[2] According to legend King Edward the Confessor gave some land to one of his men in return for slaying a wild boar that had infested the nearby Bernwood Forest.

[3] The man built himself a mansion on this land and called it "Boar-stall" (Old English for 'Boar House') in memory of the slain beast.

[3][4] Manorial records of 1265 show that the owner of the manor of Boarstall was the ceremonial keeper of the Bernwood Forest, suggesting a link with the earlier legend.

In the English Civil War this was made into a garrison by King Charles I who was in possession of the nearby village of Brill.

The Magna Britannia of 1806 noted that the current incumbent of the manor, Sir John Aubrey, 6th Baronet, was in possession of a large horn "of a dark brown colour, variegated and veined like tortoise-shell.