Richard Delabere was the Lord of the Manor of Southam from 1607, and his Manor house was near the present Pigeon House in Southam Lane (the gentry kept pigeons; villagers kept hens). The Manor house was on land owned by Henry Bohun, the Earl of Hereford. Bohun's youngest daughter was given the Manor as a dowry when she married Henry Bolingbroke (who later became Henry IV), who annexed it to the Duchy of Lancaster. James I granted the Manor to Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury, who sold it to Richard Delabere. Southam Church was the Delabere estate chapel.

Richard Delabere was a Barrister of Law at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and he died in 1636. His wife Margaret (née Newman) had the magnificent Delabere tomb built in the south aisle of Bishop's Cleeve church in 1639, at a cost of £400. They had no children, so his cousin, who lived at Southam House, inherited the title, and Southam House became the Manor House from 1636. It had been built by Sir John Huddleston, who was Sheriff of Gloucester from 1482-1499. Richard was fined £25 for refusing a Knighthood at the Coronation of Charles I (1625).

The Oriel School for Girls later used Southam House. It is now the Delabere Hotel.