The freehold is owned by the school; the main house and several buildings at Wycombe Abbey are Grade II* listed.

The earl, in turn, bequeathed the estate to his grandnephew, William Petty, (who inherited a different Earldom of Shelburne in 1761[6] and became prime minister in 1782).

Loakes House was purchased from them at auction by Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington, in 1798.

He employed the architect James Wyatt to transform Loakes House into Wycombe Abbey as we see it today.

[7][8] The Air Ministry requisitioned Wycombe Abbey School in March 1942 to serve as the headquarters of the United States Eighth Air Force after the entry of the United States into World War II.