[3][4][5] The earliest description of Marston House is contained in a letter from Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, in 1641, when he purchased the Manor from Sir John Hippisley.

The house later passed to John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork, and successive generations, who each left their mark on the house and grounds, including Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork who added Marston Pond, a boathouse, and three gate lodges.

In the three-storey central block of this front are four Ionic columns, which were built by Sir Jeffry Wyattville around 1817, with two-storey wings on either side, which were added in 1776 by Samuel Wyatt.

[6] They include a rustic, rectangular-shaped, above-ground limestone grotto dating from 1743, north-east of the house near the Frome road, which was built by James Scott.

[11] Much of the 18th century lay out is now hidden by a lake which was created in the 1820s and 1830s,[12] as part of a restyling in the style of Capability Brown,[13] with advice from William Sawrey Gilpin.