The manor of Pendley pre-dates the Norman Conquest of 1066, after which it was confiscated by William the Conqueror and passed to his brother-in-law, Robert, Count of Mortain, who became one of the greatest landholders in the newly conquered Kingdom of England.

[2] He built a manor house at the western end of the now-demolished town as a double cloistered courtyard similar to those found at Herstmonceux Castle and Eton College.

[3][4] Whittingham subsequently obtained a papal licence to build a chapel at the manor house and engage a priest to hold services there when the roads became impassable in winter.

The project was delayed by opposition from local landowners (among them Lord Brownlow and Sir Astley Cooper); after a change in the planned route, parliamentary approval was granted, and the railway line was built along a route parallel to the Grand Junction Canal, some distance to the east of Tring[7] — but too close to Pendley Manor to suit the occupant, Sir William Harcourt.

The last private owner was BBC show jumping commentator Dorian Williams, who developed it as a center for adult education and the arts after the second World War.

He inaugurated the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival in 1949 in the hotel grounds which continues to run to the present day.

The indoor Court Theatre has permanently occupied the former stables to the estate since 1978 and presents a full programme of drama and musical performance.

Architectural features include a half-timbered jettied top floor; tall decorated brick chimney pots; a square tower with an ogee-shaped lead roof; ornamental herringbone brickwork, carved Jacobean-style Ionic pilasters and stucco panels.