The history of Chawton House can be traced back to the Neolithic period, although we have more reliable printed records on the manor house and estate from the eleventh century. The Domesday Book records that Chawton was occupied in the time of Edward the Confessor by Odo, a Hampshire thane. Following the accession of William the Conqueror, the King made Odo (a Saxon) surrender Chawton to his Norman follower Hugh de Port. De Port and his descendants held Chawton in direct male line for nearly three hundred years. Thereafter it was held in the female line until the middle of the sixteenth century.

During the 13th Century King Henry III, his son Edward I and their court entourages made regular short visits to Chawton, which had become an important and convenient staging post in the journey between London and Winchester. Following the death of the last male descendent, St John, in the 14th century, Chawton Manor had declined in importance as the court had permanently settled in London.

By the sixteenth century, the Knight family occupied a position of importance in the parish and in 1524 William Knight secured a lease on the Manor and farm from Sir Thomas West. After William's death, John Knight the younger bought Chawton Manor. He was succeeded by his son Nicholas, who became Lord of the Manor, patron of the advowson (the right of presentation to a vacant benefice) and owner of the greater part of the parish.

Following Nicholas's death his son John inherited. John was the principal builder of the Manor House as it stands today. He contributed �50 to Elizabeth I's fighting fund for the Battle of the Armada, an act for which he was rewarded with a commemorative fireback (dated 1588) which can still be seen in the Great Hall of Chawton House today. Nicholas completed the building of the stables in 1593 and continued to carry out alterations and extensions to the Manor House throughout his life.

Sir Richard Knight inherited Chawton House in the 1640s at the tender age of two. Plans of the house's architecture and layout during this period reveal the same basic structure recognisable today. As Sir Richard had no children he left the estate to a grandson of his aunt, Richard (Martin) Knight. His brother Christopher and sister Elizabeth inherited in their turn.

In the 18th Century Elizabeth Knight undertook considerable development and restoration work on the house and gardens. Having no children by either of her two husbands, Elizabeth was the last descendant of the original Knight family and when she died her cousin Thomas Brodnax May Knight inherited Chawton and united it with his property in Godmersham. During his time formal terracing led up to the main house and the gardens were set out as shown in the Mellichamp painting of 1741. In the latter part of the century these formal gardens were replaced by fashionable English Landscape-style gardens as shown in the Callender View.

In 1789 Thomas Knight II inherited the estate. The Knights, however, were childless, and turned to a cousin, the Revd George Austen, for an heir. The couple adopted the Austen's son. Edward had complete control over the estates at Godmersham and Chawton from 1797 and lived at Godmersham while Chawton House was let to tenants. His mother and sisters, Jane and Cassandra, moved to a cottage in the village of Chawton.

At this time the manor house still had the white stucco in place but all the principle windows had been replaced with timber sash windows. Although Edward spent little time at Chawton he did work on improving the estate and corresponded with his writer sister on plans to build a walled kitchen garden. Sadly Jane did not live to see their plans come to fruition.

Following his marriage in 1826 Edward Knight II, Jane Austen's nephew moved into the house belonging to his father, and when he later inherited the estate, he sold Godmersham. Edward Knight II carried out extensive work on the estate, building a new Servants Hall, replacing the Great Hall windows with the stone casements that can be seen today, and building the Billiard Room extension.

In the late 19th century Montagu Knight inherited Chawton House. He proved an inveterate improver, spending considerable time and money on restoring the house. Montagu continued the work of Edward Knight II by replacing the rest of the timber windows and stripping the white stucco render. The influence of Edwin Lutyens is apparent in the fireplaces, ceiling and external terracing.

As Montagu was childless, his nephew Lionel inherited the estate followed by his son Edward Knight III. When war broke out in 1939 Chawton House was let and later became a home for Dr Barnardo's evacuees. Around 1951 the estate began to be broken up when The Grey Friars public house and 34 cottages in the village were sold to pay taxes and heavy expenses. Later in 1954 2,150 acres of land were sold leaving just Chawton House and garden. The garden was simplified to reduce maintenance with the paths and borders grassed over and the walled garden returned to orchard.

In 1987 Richard Knight succeeded and was forced to consider innovative ways to rescue Chawton House and restore the estate to its former glory. Planning consent was granted for conversion to a country house hotel and golf course, and when this fell through an American businesswoman Sandy Lerner, via her American Leonard X.Bosack and Bette M. Kruger Foundation, set up a charity and purchased a 125 year lease on Chawton Estate: the grade II* listed Chawton House and 275 acres of land. Chawton House Stables, the original Elizabethan stable block, already converted to a dwelling, was purchased outright. Although the Knight family vacated the house in 1987, Richard Knight remains actively involved in the project as a Trustee. Thus began the start of the ambitious project to restore the house and estate to accommodate the magnificent collection of books donated by Sandy Lerner and to establish a library and study centre for women's writing in English, 1600-1830.