The site occupied by the two pavilions has a regal past.

In 1541, the 400-acre deer park at Stoke Bruerne was acquired by Henry VIII who, with his second wife Anne Boleyn, used it for hunting.

Then, in 1629, the ill-fated Charles I gave it to Sir Frances Crane to settle a debt.

Under Sir Frances, the medieval hunting lodge was replaced by an impressive new country house, the first in England built in the Italian Palladian style.

Linked by colonnades stood two pavilions – one, a chapel; the other, a library.

Today, the house (and its later replacement) are gone. The two pavilions, however, whose design is attributed to Inigo Jones, still stand.