[3] The main body of the house was extended and developed by Sir John Dawtrey (d.1518), a major landowner, M.P.

He received large sums of money from Henry VIII to supply food for the navy and to help in the defences of the town.

Money was also provided for the building, fitting out and provisioning of ships – including The Mary Rose.

[4] During the Tudor period, the house was a home for influential members of Southampton society including Sir Richard Lyster (1480–1554), a judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench.

[7] The house's improvements in fortune coincided with those of Southampton, which had become fashionable as a spa town, due to the discovery of a chalybeate spring.

Spranger made significant changes to the house, including installing a 'minstrels' gallery in above the banqueting hall, and creating several doors where previously there had been none.

[11] In the 1970s an early 19th-century cannon that had been found during the construction of the Itchen Bridge was placed in the house garden.

[12] By the end of the century, the museum had become fairly dilapidated; a combination of poor renovation work, and time.

Features of the garden include parapets and mounts, a fountain plot, a seat arbour, and bee bole.