The Jacobean core of Goodwood House was constructed in 1617 for Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, known as the Wizard Earl. In 1697 Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond — an illegitimate son of King Charles II — acquired the house so that he could ride with the fashionable Charlton Hunt. In the late 1740s the second Duke commissioned a south-facing wing, likely designed by Matthew Brettingham, though the project remained unfinished at the Duke's death. The third Duke engaged Sir William Chambers to complete the south wing and design the stable block, finished in the late 1750s. James Wyatt was then commissioned to design a north wing and kennels, completed in the early 1770s and late 1780s. It has been suggested, though never proven, that there was an intention to build the house in a unique octagonal layout, of which only three of the eight sides were ultimately realised.
The third Duke brought horse racing to Goodwood by establishing the racecourse in 1802. In 1901 a golf course was laid out on the estate during the tenure of the sixth Duke. The seventh Duke counted King Edward VII among his acquaintances; the King was a frequent visitor, enjoying horse racing and the Duke's house parties.
In 1938, RAF Westhampnett was established on the estate during the ninth Duke's time. The airfield was active throughout the Second World War, after which it became Goodwood Airfield. In 1946 Tony Gaze, an Australian fighter pilot and racing driver who had flown from Westhampnett during the war, suggested to the ninth Duke that the airfield's perimeter road would be suitable for motor racing. The Duke, an amateur racing driver himself, accepted the idea and established the Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1948.
During the war the house itself was requisitioned as a military hospital. Damage assessed at £21,000 was incurred during its service. In the post-war period the ninth Duke moved into only one wing of the house and converted several state rooms into estate offices to reduce running costs. In the 1960s much of the north wing was demolished on account of dry rot. The tenth Duke undertook structural repairs before handing tenure to his son, the eleventh Duke (then the Earl of March), in 1994. The eleventh Duke subsequently restored much of the house's interior.
The Goodwood Motor Circuit opened in 1948 and quickly became a major venue for British motorsport, hosting Formula One races during the 1950s and early 1960s. The circuit fell out of use as a competition venue in the mid-1960s but was revived by the Earl of March in the 1990s. The Festival of Speed hillclimb was launched in 1993 on the grounds of Goodwood House itself, using a road that winds up through the estate's parkland. The Goodwood Revival, a historic motor racing event staged at the original circuit, followed in 1998. Both events have become internationally recognised celebrations of motorsport history.
The Goodwood estate employs over 550 people and attracts approximately 800,000 visitors a year. Alongside the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival, it hosts Glorious Goodwood — one of the most celebrated weeks of flat horse racing on the British calendar. The estate includes two golf courses, a cricket pitch, a hotel, and a 1,600-hectare organic farm. The headquarters of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is also located on the estate. The parkland and woodlands are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In 1982 the estate hosted the World Road Cycling Championships.
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