Stansted Park began as a hunting lodge 800 years ago.  Royal visitors are recorded from Henry II to the present generation. After several owners,  and a calamitous fire in 1900, the mansion was rebuilt in 1901 on the exact footprint of the 1688 house, and became the family home of the Ponsonbys, Earls of Bessborough, in 1924.

The house was enjoyed by the families of the 9th and 10th Earls of Bessborough as their family home, and still contains family portraits by Kauffman, Lawrence, Hoppner, Reynolds, and Liotard. The 9th Earl of Bessborough, Vere Ponsonby, was a popular Governor General of Canada in the 1930s.

Since 1983 the House and Estate have been administered by Stansted Park Foundation, an independent charitable trust set up by Frederick [Eric] Ponsonby, the 10th Earl. He was a diplomat, Minister of State, a founder of Chichester Festival Theatre, and a Vice-President of the European Parliament.

Further information about Stansted House is available at www.stanstedpark.co.uk