It was built for lawyer Sir Frank Crisp, and purchased in January 1970 by English rock musician and former Beatle George Harrison.

[13] The rumours and tabloid press reports claiming Harrison put the property up as collateral in order to fund the Monty Python comedy team's movie Life of Brian, after their original backers, EMI, pulled out at the last minute, is unfounded.

[14][15] The rumour was an "inside joke" that was turned into a marketing scheme stating that Harrison simply wanted to get to see the film, something that his friend Eric Idle described for promotional purposes as "the most expensive cinema ticket in movie history".

Following their divorce, Lady David moved into the Coachman's Cottage on the south-west corner of the property when the rest of the estate was donated for the use of nuns belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco order.

These include the bulk of his own albums, from 1973's Living in the Material World onwards;[18] among them, Dark Horse, Thirty Three & 1/3, George Harrison, Cloud Nine and Brainwashed.

"[17] Friar Park once had extensive gardens and water features that were designed by Henry Ernest Milner for Crisp,[20] including a grotto, and stones just underneath the surface of the pond (providing a walking-on-water illusion).

[23] His humorous video clips for the likes of "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", "True Love", and "Crackerbox Palace" were all shot within the gardens and grounds of Friar Park, as were the album covers for some of his FPSHOT-recorded Dark Horse acts − Splinter's The Place I Love and the album Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India being the most obvious.

[21] Until his death in November 2001, he loved tending to them personally − an activity that a visiting Rolling Stone journalist in 1987 deemed a "decidedly un-rock-star-ish pastime"[24] − and among the groundskeepers were his older brothers Peter and Harry.

Following the murder of John Lennon, Harrison's Beatles bandmate, in December 1980, the gates were locked and security features such as fences and video cameras installed.