[1] The original house was built by Richard Pellatt of Steyning, who bought the estate in 1584; before then it was a deer park held by the Earls of Arundel.

His descendant Charlotte Turner Smith (1749–1806), the poet and novelist, spent some of her childhood here.

A new house, designed by Henry Harrison in Neoclassical style, was built from 1826 to 1829, and the parkland was landscaped by William Sawrey Gilpin.

[1][2][4] During the First World War Mrs Josephine Johnstone, a descendant of John Hawkins, established a Red Cross hospital in the house.

[6] Bignor Park houses a small collection of ancient Greek antiquities.