This Estate has changed hands by sale only twice since the Norman Conquest in 1066, the first time in 1885 to the Hon. Richard Dawson and in 1937 to Stephen Simpson, the present owner’s Great Grandfather.

In 1066 William I granted the manor at Holne to Baldwin the Sheriff, who had held high command in the Norman army at the Battle of Hastings.  He was the Grandson of Godfrey, Earl of Ewe, who was a son of Richard, Duke of Norway, and the grandfather of William the Conqueror.

From him the manor descended to Bourchier, Earl of Ewe, who married Anne Plantagenet, a Grand Daughter of King Edward III.  William Bourchier and his wife also inherited the Estates of Lord Fitzwarren, and the family then sat in the House of Lords under the title of Earl of Ewe until 1536, when the latter was created Earl of Bath.

Henry, 5th Earl of Bath, died without issue in 1654 and at his death the title became extinct.  His niece had married the Earl of Middlesex, and secondly Sir Chichester Wrey whose family then inherited.  In 1885 Sir Bourchier Palk Wrey Bt., sold the Estate to the Hon. Richard Dawson.

The Dawsons initially lived at Holne Chase, and then built a Victorian mansion at Holne Park, into which they moved.  Holne Chase was let in 1890 to the Rev. Charles Foster, after whom a Salmon Pool is named, and in 1934 a temperance Hotel opened.

In 1937 the neighbouring Landowner, Stephen Simpson of Spitchwick Manor, Poundsgate purchased the Estate from the Executors of Mrs Dawson whose husband and son had both died in 1914.

Holne Chase was let as a Hotel until 2008 when it became uneconomically viable.
The owners of Holne Chase, Mr and Mrs Richard Simpson then decided to take possession of the property and convert the Stable Block and Garden Cottage into Holiday Lets and live in the Mansion House