In 1864, the house was bought for £100,000 by Major J.W.G. Spicer, an army officer whose investment in a brewery had made his fortune. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, had offered three times as much, but was refused by the owner John Baynton Starkey for reasons unknown and was in the family's hands for a further four generations. Spicer demolished the 17th-century house, and rebuilt 1864-1868 in red brick. It was considered an eyesore by Spicer's neighbours. The house was destroyed by fire in 1868, and then rebuilt by 1871, but this time in mock-Tudor style. By 1939, the estate consisted of .