All About Althorp: Princess Diana’s Home and Final Resting Place

The Althorp Estate’s Beginnings

The first recorded mention of a place then known as “Olletorp” appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Originally a small village, it had become deserted by 1505, due to the Black Death, as some historians believe. In 1508, John Spencer, whose family were wildly successful sheep farmers, wool traders, and landowners, purchased what is now known as Althorp for 800 British pounds from a family named Catesby.

Here, John, nicknamed “the founder,” built a…