Part of the house is leased out as offices while the current Lord Petre's son and heir apparent lives in a private wing with his family.

In June 1561, Queen Elizabeth I spent several nights at Ingatestone Hall on her royal progress, where she held court.

The Petre family were recusants, remaining loyal to the Roman Catholic Church after the English Reformation had turned the Kingdom of England into a Protestant country.

In 1589–90, Byrd spent Christmas with the family at Ingatestone along with John Petre's half sister Dorothy Petre and her husband Nicholas Wadham later co-founders of Wadham College, Oxford and in 1593 Byrd took up residence in the neighbouring village of Stondon Massey.

At around this time, Ingatestone Hall underwent significant alterations and was converted into smaller rented apartments.

The west wing, which contained the Great Hall, was demolished, opening the enclosed courtyard out into the U-shaped building that is seen today, and the north wing was extended and the outer court buildings were rebuilt, including an entrance arch topped with a one-handed clock.

This clock turret, engraved with the motto "Sans dieu rien" ("without God, nothing") is thought to have been the work of Paine.

[8] The exterior of hall was used as a filming location to represent Bleak House in the 2005 television adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel and also appeared in an episode of the TV series Lovejoy.