Great Milton lies approximately eight miles South East of Oxford, in a fold of low hills overlooking the rich water meadows of the Thames Valley. It is a very old site, certainly Saxon, perhaps earlier. The fertile, well drained soils of the uplands, reliable springs and good building stone at hand all assured its future agricultural prosperity.

Great Milton has never been on a main road and so has always been a little secluded; remaining comparatively unspoilt, growing old with grace while retaining some traces of each stage of history.

The ancient church, timber frame and thatch cottages, a lot of the beautiful stone and stucco houses all bear witness to its attraction as a dwelling place throughout the ages.

At the time of the Norman Conquest, Great Milton became a Prebendal Manor of the Bishop of Lincoln, helping directly to provision his Abbey at Dorchester. But the first real resident of the manor to whom we can give a name is Basilea, the widow of Roger de Cundi, who held the manor under the Bishop of Lincoln and was living in Great Milton in 1225.

Sir Thomas was the first celebrity to have close connections with the Manor. A favourite of Richard II, he was a dashing soldier who had taken part in expeditions in Scotland, Wales and Castile.

Up to this point there exists no description of a house, though the site is clear enough. However, on coming of age, William Radwyld decided to rebuild and enlarge the house. Accounts of the three years that the rebuilding took to complete have survived. A fragmentary but vivid series of jottings of day to day expenses are proof of how the house was eventually brought to life.