"there had been a manor house at glynde bourne (as it was often spelt) since the fifteenth century", but the exact age of the house is unknown. some surviving timber framing and pre-elizabethan panelling makes an early sixteenth-century date the most likely. in 1618, it came into the possession of the hay family, passing to james hay langham in 1824. he inherited his father's baronetcy and estate in northamptonshire in 1833 which under the terms of his inheritance should have led to him relinquishing glyndebourne, but as a certified lunatic he was unable to do so. after litigation the estate passed to a relative, mr langham christie, but he later had to pay £50,000 to persuade another relative to withdraw a rival claim.