Built by Direct Ancestors of
George Washington
In 1540 the Crown sold three manors, including Sulgrave, to Lawrence Washington, a wool merchant who in 1532 had been Mayor of Northampton. Washington’s descendants retained the manor until 1659, when one of them sold it.
In 1656 a descendant, John Washington of Purleigh, Essex, emigrated to the Colony of Virginia. He is noted for being the great-grandfather of George Washington, who from 1775 commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and in 1789 was elected first President of the United States.