This carefully researched and well illustrated book tells the compelling story of one of the most important eighteenth century houses in the medieval Wiltshire town of Devizes. It draws together three years of painstaking survey work and documentary research to build up a detailed picture of every element of the house. Special attention is paid to examining and illustrating its architectural details, fixtures and fittings, including, stonework, woodwork, plasterwork and decoration. It charts the changes made to the house over its 286 year history as well as telling the often colourful stories of its owners and occupiers, which include one of the real life inspirations for C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower. Built in the most modern style by an aspirant cloth merchant, as an expression of his hard won social position, its subsequent rental and neglect by absentee landlords through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries means it is one of the least altered and best preserved houses in the town.