Our History
The Estate was inherited in 1544 by John Peyton, MP, and the current house was built in 1585.
The imposing red-brick Queen Anne façade which is much admired today, was added in 1715. The Grade II listed Dower House is Elizabethan.
Late 17th Century
In the late 17th century, Knowlton Court was home to Sir Thomas Peyton, MP for Sandwich. Imprisoned in 1643 and labelled a 'malignant', he led a failed Royalist uprising in 1648, was captured, and sent to the Tower. Knowlton Court was ransacked. After his death in 1684, his daughters sold the estate to Admiral Sir John Narborough.
Sir John Narborough
Sir John Narborough died at sea, and his widow later married Sir Cloudesley Shovell, who died with her sons in the 1707 Scilly disaster. All are commemorated in St Clement’s Church, the Knowlton Estate’s chapel.
The estate passed to the D'Aeth family in 1707, then to Major Francis Elmer Speed in 1904. In 1912, he hired Edwin Lutyens to design a gatehouse and made major estate changes.
The Fox-Pitt Family
Knowlton is under the stewardship of the Fox-Pitt family, one of Britain's best-known equestrian families and whose passion for agriculture, environment, conservation and preservation will see it carefully handed to the next generation.
