Littlecote House near Hungerford dates from the 13th century, and is effectively three houses rolled into one. The original medieval mansion (on the far left of the picture) was inhabited by the de Calstone family from around 1290. When William Darrell married Elizabeth de Calstone in 1415, he inherited the house. His family went on to build the adjoining Tudor mansion in the mid-16th century. Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour at the house; her grandmother was Elizabeth Darrell. The major Elizabethan brick extension was completed in 1592. Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, and William of Orange all stayed there.
In September 1943 the US 101st Airborne Division requisitioned part of the house, and it became home to regimental staff, regimental headquarters company, and headquarters company of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The house provided office space and sleeping quarters for 506th officers with the best rooms being allocated to Col. Robert F. Sink, Regimental Commander and Lt. Col. Charles H. Chase, his executive officer. The colonel used the library as his office, and a memorial plaque can now be found in this room. From airfields in this area, including Ramsbury just to the west of here, the Airborne Division took off during the night of 5 June 1944, the eve of D-Day, as part of the invasion of Normandy. Easy Company from this regiment have become famous through the book and TV mini-series "Band of Brothers". All other ranks lived in Nissen huts built alongside the main drive between the house and the east lodge.
Littlecote House is currently a hotel.
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