[1] The house is also known for a series of now destroyed and very detailed paintings of near contemporary events in Tudor England, whose appearances have survived in various published etchings made over the centuries when they existed.

[2] In the 1520s, Sir David Owen, uncle to Henry VII, began construction of the current Cowdray House on the site of the former home Coudreye, which he had acquired upon the death of his wife Mary Bohun in 1496.

In 1533 Henry VIII granted a licence to Fitzwilliam's trustees to impark 600 acres (240 ha) of meadow, pasture and wood and build fortifications at "Cowdry".

[4][permanent dead link‍] In 1536, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Sir William was given the nearby Easebourne Priory and other properties, whilst in 1538 his half-brother and heir who later inherited Cowdray, Anthony Browne, received Battle Abbey.

It is rumoured that a dispossessed monk from Battle cursed the family and house by fire and water, thy line shall come to an end and it shall perish out of this land.

[9] During the English Civil War, two-thirds of the Cowdray estate were sequestered from Francis Browne, 3rd Viscount Montagu, and the house was garrisoned by Parliamentary forces.

[3] On 24 September 1793, during restoration work, a fire started in the carpenters' workshop in the North Gallery where some smouldering charcoal was allowed to fall upon the sawdust and woodshavings strewn across the floor.

From the collection only three paintings and a few small pieces of furniture were saved, the rest including artefacts from Battle Abbey being devoured by flames.

[3] The Viscount put a halt to the decay, arranging for the careful removal of the ivy, the restoration of any unsafe structures and a full survey of the ruins to be completed.