Prior to the Norman Conquest, the land was owned by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, executed by William the Conqueror in 1071. His property was annexed to the Crown. In 1126 Henry I exchanged it for other lands with Roger de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick. By 1340, the estate was held by another Earl of Warwick, Thomas Beauchamp, who in the following year leased it to Sir John Lizours, using the name New Hall for the first time.

During the Wars of the Roses, 1455 to 1485, the fortunes of the Hall followed the fortunes of the Earls of Warwick. In 1487 Anne, Countess of Warwick, again gave it up to the Crown. By 1525, Thomas Gibbons was in residence and was extending the property in 1542. In 1590, Henry Sacheverall of Morley and Callow purchased the estate and made further improvements to the house.

On his death in 1620, it passed to his son Valens and in turn it passed to his son George who had as his chaplain the famous Jacobite firebrand Dr Henry Sacheverall, who was not related.

The doctor took up residence with his patron at New Hall after his trial for sedition in 1709 and was later imprisoned at the house. George's great nephew, Charles Sacheverall Chadwick, a descendant of one of the knights who had fought at the Battle of Hastings, inherited the estate in 1715.

The house remained a Chadwick possession until 1897. John de Heley Chadwick, the last Chadwick to live at New Hall, added to its size and appearance in 1870 by enlarging the North Wing and building up the central tower.

The estate was then owned by a string of eminent local businessmen until it became a country house hotel in 1988. The Great Hall and Dining Room are Anglo-Saxon in origin, while the walls of the Great Hall are lined with 16th Century oak panelling. Fine mullioned windows contain medallions of exquisite 16th Century Flemish glass. The fireplace is 17th Century with a carved oak overpiece.

In the dining room, the carved stone fireplace is late 17th Century, while the 16th Century glass carries old Dutch verse. Other windows have the Sacheverall arms and crests and the 'Fate of the Cow' is shown in three insets.

The Great Chamber, originally constructed in 1542 by Thomas Gibbons, was enlarged by Henry Sacheverall, who added the oak panelling at the end of the 16th Century. The fine ribbed ceiling of moulded plasterwork, adorned with ormolu and gilt is also Elizabethan.

The windows are glazed with small leaded quarters, many etched with diamond-written love laments by George Sacheverall in 1689. The moat, originally a medieval defence system, is fed by seven springs. The terraces, south of the moat are 16th Century, while other horticultural and ornamental features were added in the 18th and 19th centuries.