[1] The original Norman construction was by William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester,[1] and was built on an estate owned at the time of the Domesday Book by Geoffrey de Montbray the Bishop of Coutances.

[1] In 2003, Saltford Manor was the winner of a contest sponsored by Country Life to find the "oldest continuously inhabited house in Britain".

There were hundreds of entrants, many eliminated because they had been built as ecclesiastical buildings and only become available in the housing market after Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

[3][4] Nikolaus Pevsner points to the rare survival of a fragment of a medieval painting as an important feature of the house.

[9] Other historically significant details include a Norman window in the main bedroom, a 17th-century kitchen, and an "imposing" Tudor fireplace in the sitting room.