This early 17th-century house, which incorporates parts of a medieval building, is famous as the ancestral seat of George Washington’s family. It is built to a conventional H-plan with a great hall occupying the centre of the building and is flanked by gabled wings. The interior has interesting arched doorways in a wall which survive from the original 12th-century manor house. It also has fine Jacobean panelling and a 17th-century staircase that comes from the White Hart Hotel in Guildford. The landscape has 18th-century gates which were a gift from the Chapter XI of the Colonial Dames of America.
A collection of 17th and 18th century furniture, paintings, delftware and Washington memorabilia, including a fan given to Martha Washington by General Lafayette and a raffle ticket signed by George Washington himself. The recent past of this historic building is represented by the recreation of one of the tenement family rooms of the 1930’s.
