It is a sixteenth-century country house, best known for its twentieth-century owner, Charles Paget Wade, an eccentric who amassed an enormous collection of objects that interested him.

Two hundred and sixty four years later, the village and Manor were listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Snawesille, property of the Abbey of Saint Mary of Winchcombe.

In the early part of the 18th century the house was owned by one William Sambach, who added extra rooms on the south-west corner in about 1720.

After several further changes of owner, John Small of Clapham took over the property, being the first of a series of absentee landlords: for the next 150 years the house was occupied by tenant farmers, until its purchase in 1919 by Charles Paget Wade.

From 1900 until 1951, when he gave the Manor to the National Trust, Wade amassed an enormous and eclectic collection of objects reflecting his interest in craftsmanship.

The objects in the collection include 26 suits of Japanese samurai armour dating from the 17th and 19th centuries, bicycles, toys, musical instruments, and more.