Evidence suggests that Sir John Vanbrugh built a big house at Swinstead for first Duke of Ancaster before 1720. Fragments on the site are built into a wall. The school 'to the N.E.' (published N-W at TF01982258) is said to have been the laundry or other outbuilding (kitchen according to White). Immediately E of the school were cellars with brick vaults. Parts of them have recently collapsed. {1}{2}{3} No structural remains of this hall exist above ground level. {1} Swinstead House was probably built in the early 17th century and was enlarged in the early 18th century, reputedly by Vanbrugh. It was used as a Dower house by the Dukes of Ancaster. There is an engraving of the old house before it was enlarged dated 1707. The building was still being repaired and looked after in 1806 but in 1842 White states that it had been taken down. It is present on an estate map of 1830 but this may be a tracing from an earlier map. A two-towered folly, 'the Summer House', that stood in the gardens of Swinstead House survives (PRN 37530). {5}