Hamstead Marhsall has always been an important manor in West Berkshire. The remains of three castle mottes stand near the parish church. These were the homes of the powerful Marshal family in the 12th and 13th centuries. In Tudor times, Sir Thomas Parry was given the manor as a reward for loyal service to Queen Elizabeth I during the period when, as a princess, she was kept a virtual prisoner by her sister, Queen Mary. He built a fine Tudor mansion there, which an old story suggests the unmarried Queen knew rather well. This house was probably ruined by the Parliamentary troops stationed in the area during the 1st Battle of Newbury.

The mother of the 1st Earl of Craven bought the estate in 1620 for her young son and he decided to build a grand palace there for Elizabeth, the sister of King Charles I & dispossessed Queen of Bohemia with whom he had fallen deeply in love. He commissioned the eccentric Dutch architect, Sir Balthasar Gerbier, to design a miniature version of her old home at Heidelburg Castle in Germany. Elizabeth died before construction work even started, but the Earl still pushed the project onward and, in 1663, began to erect the building as a monument to her memory. Capt. William Wynne took over from Gerbier and his house appears to have taken the next thirty-four years to complete! King William III tried to visit on his way to claim the English Throne, but the loyal Earl was in London with the monarch's rival, King James II. The next Lord Craven preferred their Warwickshire estates, but his son, William Craven III, seems to have been fond of Hamstead. Unfortunately for him however, the whole place burnt to the ground in 1718. He dreamt of rebuilding and engaged James Gibbs to undertaken the work. However, when he died in 1739, little progress had been made. His brother, Fulwar, liked to hunt from the adjoining Lodge which was eventually converted into a smaller mansion. His heirs also built a new home at Benham Park.