A short drive through the Northamptonshire countryside links the two most important Washington family sites in England: the Tudor manor Lawrence Washington built after purchasing the estate from Henry VIII, and the medieval church where his descendants lie buried beside the Spencer family of Althorp. Together they tell the story of how a prosperous wool merchant's line declined over a century, until a younger son emigrated to Virginia and founded the dynasty that produced America's first president.
Tudor hall house built by Lawrence Washington, George Washington's five-times great-grandfather, after purchasing the estate from the Crown in 1539. The manor remained in Washington family hands until the mid-seventeenth century. The entrance porch bears the Washington coat of arms -- three stars above two bars -- which later became the basis for the District of Columbia flag. Now a museum with George Washington exhibitions including his velvet frock coat, and Arts and Crafts gardens designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Grade I listed church holding grave slabs of George Washington's direct ancestors. Lawrence Washington (d. 1616), Washington's great-great-great-grandfather, is buried in the chancel with the Washington coat of arms carved on his ledger stone. A second slab commemorates Robert Washington and his wife Elizabeth who died within days of each other in 1622. The church also houses the celebrated Spencer Chapel with nineteen generations of Spencer family tombs.