The manor of Upper Arley had various owners before 1276, when it was bought by Roger de Mortimer in 1276. It passed down his family, who held the title Earl of March until 1448 when Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York sold it. It was bought by William Burley, whose daughter Joan married Thomas Lyttleton, whose descendants (spelling their name Lyttelton) also owned Hagley Hall and became Barons Lyttelton until the death of Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton in 1779, when it passed to his sister Lucy and her husband, Arthur Annesley, 8th Viscount Valentia, later Earl of Mountnorris. The manor was held by the Woodward family from 1853 to 1959. Captain Robert Woodward was killed in World War I in 1915. On the death of Sir Chad Woodward, on 2 February 1957, most of the estate was sold off for death duties. His widow continued to retain the rights and duties of the Lord of the Manor.