The Grade 2 listed Everleigh Manor sits in the village of Everleigh, near to Pewsey and to the Salisbury Plain.

The property is now on the market, and has been described as "one of Wiltshire's finest manor houses," complete with 30.54 acres of land.

With eight bedrooms and six bathrooms, highlights include "the show stopping vaulted entrance hall, the orangery with its ornate ceilings and the magnificent reception rooms, all of which are spacious with attractive fireplaces and countless windows."

Rightmove suggests that prospective owners use the second floor of Everleigh Manor as stafff accomodation.

The West Wing of the Manor has been used as a hotel by its current owners, who bought the site in 1999, and before that the property was witness to some fascinating history.

History of Everleigh Manor

The Great Saxon King Ine is said to have had a home on the present site of Everleigh Manor from 688 - 726 AD.

That wasn't it's only royal connection, it was owned by the crown during the reign of Henry IV, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. In 1560, the property was granted to Sir Ralph Sadler by Queen Elizabeth I .

During his ownership, he allowed Mary Queen of Scots to visit the Manor to practice falconry, while she was imprisoned at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire - and was later told off by Queen Elziabeth I for doing so.

Throughout the following centuries, Everleigh Manor passed through a variety of new owners and its fascinating history continued.

In 1685, Everleigh Manor became a holding area for the prisoners during the Bloody Assizes with trials held by Judge Jeffreys in 1685, which punished people for rebelling against King James II in the Monmouth Rebellion.

The Manor was connected to a public house nearby, known as "The Crown", by a tunnel where prisoners would be led to and from the court house and manor. The tunnel is now blocked up on either end of both the manor and public house, but the tunnel still exists to this day.

In 1764, Everleigh Manor was acquired by Sir John Astley, the family retained ownership up until the turn of the 20th Century.

In 1921, the impressive manor began life as a convalescent home, once it was bought by the National Deposit Friendly Society.

The house was requisitioned in 1939 and, with new buildings added in its grounds, became a military hospital used by the US Army; there was also a vaccine laboratory.

In 1951 the west wing was named the David Bruce Laboratory, and by this time the site was used by the Royal Army Medical Corps; the house and grounds were bought by the War Office in 1954. 

The Army left the site c. 1990 and the house returned to use as a private residence.

As of 2016, the west wing is operated as a hotel.

To find out more about the listing, go to https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/105938096#/