 In 1259, Henry III gave Robert Tregoze a royal licence to create a deer park in nearby woodland.In 1420 the estate came by marriage to the St John family (whose seat was at Battersea, London), and they owned it until the Second World War.Formal gardens and a canal were created as part of changes made to the medieval house in the 17th century; Sir John St John also laid out a series of formal avenues.