Four consecutive generations represented Cirencester in Parliament between 1624 and 1747, and Sir William Master was on several occasions the unwilling host of members of the royal family during the Civil War.

Although the house seems to have avoided damage in the siege of Cirencester, the Master family estates were sequestered, and Sir William, who had 12 children, was said to be in financial difficulties in 1652.

Between 1774 and 1776 Thomas Master had it taken down and replaced by a new house, which was also square and apparently stood on the old foundations, although it faced in the opposite direction, out across the newly landscaped park.

The new house was designed by William Donn, a minor London architect, who was paid £40 for the plans but who apparently did not supervise the work.

The new house was a five-by-five bay block, of three storeys, with a semicircular bow on the entrance front and a platband above the first-floor windows.

The new doors and windows were framed by fluted baseless Doric columns in antis and divided by short sections of wall with incised panels.