England's 'oldest house' covered in history that's been around for 857 years (2025)

Saltford House is thought to be the country's oldest continuously inhabited house (Image: Historic England Archive)

England is famously full of ancient buildings which have been lived in by a huge array of different people. Some have long gone, with archeologists regularly making important discoveries and documenting their remnants. It is tricky to work out which house in the country has survived the longest, but there is one that most likely fits the bill. Saltford House in the Somerset village of the same name is around 875-years-old, dating to the middle of the 12th century.

The Grade II listed Norman property won out after Country Life magazine led a search for the "oldest continuously inhabited house in Britain" in 2003. There are signs of the fascinating structure's age all over it, including a medieval decorative painting most likely from the 1300s. "It’s difficult to say which is England’s oldest house precisely," experts at Historic England say. "Many of the earliest surviving buildings have been updated in later centuries, and others have been built on the site of former houses."

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Signs of the building's age are everywhere (Image: Historic England Archive)

The land on which the manor was built was owned by the Earls of Gloucester in the medieval period.

Historic England says, however, that it is most likely that a tenant constructed the building.

It added: "The manor would have originally formed a two-storey ‘chamber block’, providing high-status rooms at the first-floor level, lit by the surviving early windows and heated by a fireplace.

"These rooms would have been used in conjunction with a hall, which would have sat elsewhere on the site."

Major remodelling took place in the 1400s when a large chimney stack was installed.

The ground floor was also modified to form more high-status rooms.

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Saltford House was built by a tenant in around 1150, experts think (Image: Historic England Archive)

Modern homes in Saltford have had an overall average price of £599,643 over the last year.

The majority of properties sold in the area during the last year, Rightmove says, were detached properties, selling for an average price of £724,273.

Semi-detached properties sold for an average of £482,571, with terraced properties fetching £415,833.

Experts add that, overall, the sold prices in Saltford over the last year were 4% up on the previous year and increased by 8% on the 2022 peak of £553,277.

The local council describes Saltford as being "steeped in history" and lived in by a "vibrant community".