The existing Porch House was built on the site of a 15th-century mansion, also known as the Porch or Porche House. Until the early 21st century, Kingsley Fields (now a housing development) lay behind Porch House, and local historian James Hall considers that the original building might have been occupied in around 1400 by John Kingsley, a turbulent character who was a prominent Nantwich resident, holding part of the Barony of Nantwich between 1405 and 1431. A follower of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, Kingsley fought against Henry IV at the Battle of Shrewsbury of 1403, but later obtained the king's pardon and became squire and later sergeant to Henry V, fighting for the king in Normandy in 1415 and subsequently.