according to legend (none of the following can be verified), sir george disapproved of the union, possibly because the manners were protestants, and the vernons were catholics, or possibly because the second son of an earl had uncertain financial prospects. sir george forbade john manners from courting the famously beautiful and amiable dorothy and forbade his daughter from seeing manners. torn by her love for her father and her love for john manners, dorothy fled haddon hall in 1563 to elope with manners. shielded by the crowd during a ball given by sir george, dorothy slipped away and fled through the gardens, down stone steps and over a footbridge where manners was waiting for her, and they rode away to be married. if indeed this happened, the couple were soon reconciled with sir george, as they inherited the estate on his death two years later. haddon hall remains in the manners family to the present day.