In the 1730s Lady Mary inherited the house, becoming an important and desirable heiress. Later she married the notorious Lord Sidney Beauclerk. ‘Worthless Sidney’, as he was known, loved high living and excess so much that eventually he was forced to break the news to his wife that he had gambled away the family fortunes.
Legend tells of Lady Mary, so overcome with grief and anger, picking up her infant son from his cradle and throwing him from the window into the moat below. She then went down into the Great Hall and committed suicide.
