The abbey was enriched by gifts from the Goushills, D’Eyncourts, Bassets, and other families from Nottinghamshire and it received a considerable grant from King Edward I.

[2] Pardon to William Broun of Norton by Welbeck of suit of the King’s peace for felonies, treasons and other offences under the following circumstances: Robert Veel, keeper of the rolls of the King’s Bench, and John Wynchecombe, appointed by the king to take carts for the carriage of the rolls, being directed on Saturday before the feast of St Katherine last by Walter Clopton, Chief Justice, and other justices to carry the said rolls from York to Nottingham, where upon by reason of excessive rainfall affecting the roads, they could not without additional horses reach Nottingham, where upon by virtue of their commission and the justices order they took at Norton aforesaid two horses of John Levet and John Turnour of Norton, to be paid for in due course.

There upon the said William Broun, John Northeryn, Robert Bocher, all of Norton, and Hugh Matt, servant of John Baukwell, Abbot of Welbeck, with divers other evil doers came armed with bows and arrows, sticks and swords, and at dusk of the same day raised all the men of Norton to insurrection, pursued the said Robert and John to Warsop and instigated by Simon de Castleton, canon of Welbeck, and John Worsop, vicar of Cuckney and canon of Welbeck, assaulted them, shot at and pierced the books in the carriage and took the horses, and would have carried the same away but that by the grace of God and their help they made too good a defence.With so much wealth at his disposal, the Abbot of Welbeck was an influential man, and in 1512 all the houses of the order in England were placed under his care.

After being owned by a City of London clothier, the abbey was purchased by Gilbert, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury for the sum of £555 6s 6d (equivalent to £161,079 as of 2023)[3] in 1599, and sold to Sir Charles Cavendish, son of Bess of Hardwick in 1607.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand accepted an invitation from the 6th Duke of Portland to stay at Welbeck Abbey and arrived with his wife, Sophie von Hohenberg, by train at Worksop on 22 November 1913 ten months before his assassination, which triggered World War I.

[9] Bill Bryson describes his visit to the Abbey while it was occupied by the Ministry of Defence in Chapter 15 of his book Notes from a Small Island.

Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck, the unmarried elder daughter of the 7th Duke of Portland, lived at Welbeck Woodhouse, and owned most of the 17,000-acre (69 km2) estate until her death in late 2008 when William Henry Marcello Parente (born 1951) inherited, son of her younger sister, Lady Margaret (1918–1955) and her husband Gaetano Parente, Prince of Castel Viscardo.

They include the Dukeries Garden Centre in the estate glasshouses, the School of Artisan Food in the former Fire Stables, the Harley Gallery and Foundation and the Welbeck Farm shop in the former estate gasworks, and a range of craft workshops, designed by John Outram in a former kitchen garden.

The End of the Road affiliated festival was headlined by Richard Hawley, The Low Anthem and Andrew Bird.

[14] The 5th Duke of Portland, who preferred to live in seclusion, had an elaborate underground maze excavated under his estate and undertook the most substantial building works at Welbeck.

The kitchen gardens covered 22 acres (89,000 m2) and were surrounded by high walls with recesses in which braziers could be placed to hasten the ripening of fruit.

The tunnel's skylights can be seen from the Robin Hood Way footpath which follows its course and a masonry entrance can be seen between two lodges at the northeastern limit of the park.

The duke was a keen horse-owner, and almhouses he constructed on the estate are known as the Winnings, funded by money won by his horses in seven high purse races from 1888 to 1890.

[23] A smaller house known as Welbeck Woodhouse was built on the northern side of the estate for the Marquess of Titchfield (the courtesy title held by the 7th Duke prior to his succession to the Dukedom) in 1930–31.