Nicholas Poyntz (died 1557) added the East Wing onto the existing moated manor house shortly before 1535.

The king and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, stayed in the house in 1535, during a tour of the West Country.

However, the neglect resulted in a rare example of Tudor royal state apartments being preserved virtually intact.

The house was purchased at auction in 1984 by Eva Dorothy Brown on behalf of the Bristol Visual and Environmental Group (BVEG).

Prior to the restoration, English Heritage commissioned a comprehensive study, published as K. Rodwell and R. Bell, Acton Court: The evolution of an early Tudor courtier's house (2004).