[5] The house was much altered in about 1762 by architect Joseph Pickford to a H-plan, two substantial three-storeyed, fifteen-bayed balustraded wings linked by a single-storey central block.

The bailiff, mistakenly believing that the stonework was unsafe, pulled down the tower and the old banqueting hall which contained the carved gallery and stained glass windows bearing the arms of the Longford family from the time of the Conquest.

During the last five years of his life, Coke visited Longford annually and returned the estate to its former splendour.

[6] In June 1842, Coke, sensing that he was in his last days, decided to pay his boyhood home one last visit.

Shortly after his arrival, after dedicating two new bridges he had built over a mill stream that ran through the village, he took seriously ill and died on 30 June 1842 at the age of 88.