In the 13th Century the Estate was held by Richard de Ottehale. In the 14th Century it passed into the possession of Richard Kentish, who held court here from 1395 till 1419.
It then passed to the Attree family, John Attree’s first court being held in February 1438. It remained in his family for the best part of a century. In 1537 Thomas Attree conveyed Otehall to Thomas Godman, who it is thought was his son in law. It stayed in the Godman family being passed from father to son until 1718 when the male line became extinct and Otehall was bequesthed to William Shirley, the son of John Godman’s daughter Elizabeth.
He became Governor of the Bahamas, and on account of his prolonged absences conveyed the manor to Francis Warden in 1749 in trust for his family. The latter in his will in 1785 returned Otehall to the third son Thomas Shirley, then Governor of the Leeward Islands. His son Sir William Warden Shirley died unmarried in 1816, having sold the manor in 1803 to Williman Tanner of Moorhourse, who died in 1831.
It remained in the Tanner family until 1881 when Jane Tanner sold it to Major-Gen Richard Temple Godman. After his death the house was bought by Mr Herbert Woods in 1912, who then sold it to Mr Roderick Eustace Enthoven in 1923. He died in 1936 when the house was sold back to the Godman Trustees.
Thomas Godman lived here with his wife Valborg until his untimely death in Malta in 1940 when he took a direct hit on board the ship he was commanding. Valborg Godman subsequently married Bryant Irvine and lived here and ran the farm until her death in 1990. Bryant Godman Irvine died in 1992.
The present occupants are their daughter Carola Godman Irvine and her children Matthew, Charley and Nina