The village's name means 'West farm/settlement'.
Colin is a pet-form of
Nicholas who held the manor in the 13th century. An alternative name for the village may be "Colyns Weston", in 1396. A pub on Main Road is called 'The Collyweston Slater', owned by
Everards Brewery. New houses have been built down a road called 'Collyns Way'. The parish church is St Andrew's, a
Grade II* listed building.
John Stokesley (1475–1539), an English clergyman who was Bishop of London during the reign of Henry VIII was born in Collyweston. In the late sixteenth century, the place gave its name to the manner of wearing the
mandilion 'Colley-Weston-ward' for unknown reasons.
Collyweston Palace Collyweston Palace was the home, in later life, of
Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), the mother of
Henry VII. Henry VII was at Collyweston in October 1493, and in September 1495 before moving on to "Rekyng" as he journeyed to Northampton. In 1498, though still married, Margaret Beaufort made a vow of chastity and chose to live at Collyweston. The household of Margaret Beaufort at Collyweston, her chapel, and New Year's Day festivities at Collyweston with
Princess Cecily were described for
Mary I by
Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley, who had served Margaret Beaufort as a teenager. New furnishings for Lady Margaret Beaufort's apartments at Collyweston were embroidered with her heraldic badges of roses and the portcullis by Sebastian Mussheka in 1498, and she donated textiles and vestments to the parish church at Collyweston, including a then old-fashioned green damask
cope.
Margaret Tudor (1489–1541) came to Collyweston in 1503 on her way to join her husband
James IV of Scotland. One of her attendants, Elizabeth Zouche married
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare (1487–1534) at the palace, and six Spanish dancers performed a
morris dance. In 1506, a priest,
John Stokesley, was brought before Lady Margaret Beaufort's manor court charged with the crime of baptising a cat as part of a charm to find treasure. An inventory of Margaret Beaufort's wardrobe at Collyweston was made after her death in 1509. She had 20 fur-edged black gowns – some with trains, and some without them, a style known as "round". Anthony Dryland, the bailie and keeper of Collyweston, was a member of the household of
Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, and the Duke lived at Collyweston from 1531 to 1536.
Henry VIII gave the palace to
Anne Boleyn in 1536. In 1550,
Edward VI granted the manor to his sister
Elizabeth. Timber was sent to Collyweston from the
Forest of Rockingham for works by the Master Carpenter
John Revell in 1562. In 1566, the palace was extensively repaired for
Elizabeth I. New windows for the Queen's lodging were glazed with the royal arms and badges. A new timber banqueting house was built. Elizabeth I came to Collyweston on her progress on 29 June. According to
Dominique Bourgoing, on 25 September 1586,
Mary, Queen of Scots, travelled past the
chasteau Collunwaston on her way to
Fotheringhay.
Charles I granted the manor to a Scottish courtier of
James VI and I, Patrick Maule. The building was dismantled in about 1640, leaving little trace. In 2023, its location was confirmed using
ground-penetrating radar to find the main cluster of buildings, and the footings of walls were unearthed. =="Collywest"==