[1] In 1998 the estate was purchased from the Constantine Phipps, 5th Marquess of Normanby by British entrepreneur Malcolm Healey for a reported £48 million.

[4][5] A modest two-storey, five-bay country house originally named Warter Hall was built by the Pennington family of Muncaster Castle in the late 17th century.

[8] After Vestey's death, the house and the then 14,500 acre estate were sold in December 1968 for £4 million to Oswald Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby and the Guinness Trust, primarily for shooting.

It noted it could also have been viewed as a "Victorian monstrosity" with 100 rooms and more than 365 windows requiring 40 servants and a "bottomless pocket" to maintain.

[1] The estate is not to be confused with the former medieval Augustinian priory, after which it is named, the site of which lies just north of St James' Church in Warter village.