[1][2] The first historical reference to Pennyhill Park's land relates to when the site was used as a warning beacon point in the national defence against the Spanish Armada in 1588.

The construction of the country house itself was started in 1849 by James Hodges, an accomplished civil engineer who would later manage the construction of Montreal's Victoria Bridge, the longest bridge in the world at the time.

In 1935, then-owner Colin Goldsworthy Heywood developed the terracing of its formal gardens after being impressed by similar work at the Château de Villandry in France.

The British government used Pennyhill Park's grounds and its accommodation buildings as lodging for military personnel in World War I (the land is five miles (8 km) from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst).

At an early age he became an apprentice in the building industry and soon turned to railway construction.

He participated in ten important projects and became works manager of the South-Eastern Railway Company.

After that, as Sir Samuel Morton Peto’s agent, he built suspension bridges at Norwich, Needham, and Somerleyton, accepted a post as engineer, and then undertook the construction of 50 miles (80 km) of track for the Great Northern Railway.

James’s brother John Oliver Hodges who was also a civil engineer married Louisa’s sister Harriet Humphrey in 1848 and it seems that these two families had a close association.

Colin joined the firm of Thomas Goldsworthy and Sons which was an emery cloth and paper manufacturing company[11] in his mother’s family.

He lived for about forty years at Pennyhill Park and during that time terraced the formal gardens, the inspiration of which was derived from Chateau de Villandry in Tours.