The building was the ancestral home of the family of George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States.

[2] In the early 15th century Sir William Mallory married Dionysia Tempest, the last Wessyngton heir at the Hall.

Dionysia was daughter of Sir William Tempest and his cousin, Eleanor Wessyngton.

In 1613, Sir John Mallory (a descendant of Sir William Mallory and Dionysia Tempest) and Anna Eure, shareholders in the Virginia Company, moved south to Sulgrave Manor in Northamptonshire, and the manor was sold to the Bishop of Durham.

[3] The Hall continued to be used as a residence until the 19th century, when it became tenement flats and gradually fell into disrepair.