 It was enlarged under the ownership of his successor, Edward Haggerston, but suffered severe damage in a fire that burned most of the East wing to the ground.The Haggerstons sheltered Catholic priests within secret tunnels and chambers during the persecutions of the Reformation.In the Second World War, the Ellingham estate was farmed by the Women's Land Army who put the tennis courts into cultivation and used the reception rooms as a food storage centre.