Sir George Throckmorton (d. 1553) was a knight in King Henry VIII's
                    household, but opposed the King's break with Rome. Of the King's
                    divorce and pending marriage to Anne Boleyn, Sir George said that the
                    King had 'meddled with both the mother and the sister'. He had to bring
                    his aunt Elizabeth, the abbess of Denny, to live with him when her convent
                    was closed in 1537 under the Dissolution of the Monasteries, making 25
                    nuns homeless. She brought with her a dole-gate, through which help was
                    given to the poor, and upon which her name is carved. This can still be
                    seen today in the Dining-Room.

                    Sir George married Catherine Vaux, daughter of Nicholas, 1st Baron
                    Vaux of Harrowden, and became Lord of Coughton in 1519. He
                    consistently opposed the changes in religion, and although the vast majority
                    of his 19 children and 112 grandchildren were ardent Catholics, there
                    were some who were staunch Protestants, including his sons Clement,
                    who founded a puritan family branch, and Sir Nicholas, who was
                    unfortunate enough to be an avid champion of Protestantism during the
                    reign of Mary I (although it is written that his Protestantism was said to
                    wax and wane). Sir Nicholas was found not guilty on a charge of treason
                    in connection with Thomas Wyatt's rebellion (he was freed, but the jury
                    was arrested!), and went on to be a minor player in the court of Queen
                    Elizabeth, bringing her the ring as proof of her sister's death, and acting as
                    an emissary to Mary, Queen of Scots.