In 1306-7 a house at Byfleet in Surrey was being fitted up for Prince Edward of Caernarvon. It was this place that was extensively rebuilt for King Edward II, but Edward III licenced its use to various favourites as did most of his successors. There is no available plan of the medieval manor but the accounts mention all the usual buildings such as hall, chamber, chapel, wardrobe and stables.
Most of the buildings were timber framed because soon after 1404 most of the house was dismantled and moved to Sheen where it formed temporary accommodation. In fact the new rooms at Sheen were even called ‘Byfleet’.
The manor remained Royal property and Henry VIII made it part of the Hampton Court landholdings or Honour, as it was technically known. The attraction was the 380 acre park which provided excellent hunting. The King’s Master of Horse Sir Anthony Brown was provided with a handsome brick house there which Queen Elizabeth stayed in occasionally when she hunted stags in the park.
In 1616 the property was granted, by James I, to his consort Anna of Denmark who started to build a fine hunting lodge there. This was sketched by John Aubrey and it is clear that there was quite a substantial residence by that time. Parts of this house, and its gates survive, and the interior of the present mansion contains some re-used fragments of the Jacobean royal residence.
During the Commonwealth the house was sold (for £3,079 6d) but reclaimed by the Crown at the Restoration. The house, which was still substantial, was granted the Duke of Albemarle but after his death it was transferred to Queen Catherine of Braganza as part of hr jointure. She never used it as a residence and, from that time onwards, it was leased out to a succession of owners until, in 1804, it as sold by Act of Parliament to The Duke of York. After his death in 826 I assed from royal ownership.
The present house, with its royal associations and surviving fragments of Jacobean splendour, was used as the fictional home for the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) in the television series Downton Abbey.