The Goodere Family first came to Polesworth in 1544, when Francis Goodere bought the village and Abbey. He and his son, Henry, built Polesworth Hall on the site of the Abbess' dwelling. The Hall was replaced in the 1870s by the present vicarage.
In 1571, Henry was wrongfully accused of supporting Mary Queen of Scots and committed to the Tower of London. Successfully protesting his innocence, he was released the following year. Knighted in 1586, Sir Henry was promoted to Colonel of the Queens' bodyguard in 1588. He died in 1595 and the estates at Polesworth passed to his daughter, Frances, and her husband, the son of Sir Henry's brother, Sir William Goodere, and also called Henry Goodere.
The younger Henry Goodere maintained friendships and connections with some of the foremost writers of his day, whom he regularly entertained at Polesworth. The group, which became known as "the Polesworth Circle", included Inigo Jones, John Donne and Ben Jonson. Future Poet Laureate Michael Drayton was a page at the Hall and received his early education in Polesworth. It has been suggested by some sources that William Shakespeare similarly benefited from Sir Henry's patronage.
The connection of the Nethersole Family with Polesworth dates from 1619, when Sir Francis Nethersole married Lucy Goodere, eldest daughter of Henry Goodere, the Lord of the Manor of Polesworth, who inherited the estate from her father upon his death in March, 1627.
In 1619, Sir Francis was appointed, by James I, to diplomatic duties in Europe. He later took up the cause of the Bohemian royal family at the start of what became known as the Thirty Years War. His activities ultimately led to imprisonment in the Tower of London. He was released, in 1634, on condition that he retired to his wife's estates at Polesworth.
Between 1634 and his death in 1659, Sir Francis and his wife were responsible for several charitable acts. A house was built in High Street for the vicar, together with a new school. Both projects were financed through tithes stored in a newly built tithe barn. The Nethersole School and the Tithe Barn are still in use today, although both have been completely rebuilt.