Description:The house was built in 1867 for a London solicitor called Roscoe. Thomas Wardle (later Sir Thomas) bought Swainsley Hall in 1896 as a weekend house. It was too small to accommodate his large family so the west side was extended in the same year. One of the rooms was furnished completely with drawings and prints by the artist Rossetti, while scattered all over the house were trophies of Thomas' time spent in India, including a Bengal tiger. He also had his own organ installed downstairs, which unusually, was driven by water power.
Famous guests entertained by the Wardles, included Samuel Langhorne Clemens (the writer, Mark Twain), and General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, who, in true scouting fashion, preferred to sleep in a tent outside! William Morris was invited to the house in 1896, soon after Thomas Wardle bought the house. However Morris was too ill to travel and died shortly afterwards. Following the death of Sir Thomas in 1909 the house passed to his daughter Margaret and her husband Admiral Sir Guy Gaunt. Swainsley Hall then became known as Gaunts Wood for a while. The house was sold in the 1950s and became a public house for a number of years. More recently it was opened for a time as a restaurant, but is now a private residence once again.