From the Guardian: Britain's longest-inhabited dwelling.
Saltford Manor House, in Somerset, has beaten contenders from all over the country to take the title of the oldest continuously inhabited house in Britain.
The search was launched by Country Life and attracted hundreds of nominations from its readers, mostly ruled out on technicalities - former ecclesiastical buildings, unexpectedly available in the property boom which followed Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, were ruled out.
Architectural historian John Goodall also struck out swaths of ancient buildings constructed as houses but now in use as gift shops, museums or offices, as well as those where only fragments of very old houses are attached to more modern buildings.
The Tower of London, built to intimidate the potentially rebellious citizens within decades of the Norman conquest, and the great hall of Westminster Palace, along with many castles and some cathedrals, are older but cannot claim continuous domestic use.
However, in finally ruling in favour of Saltford, which is near Bristol, he believes the house has details, particularly in the ornate windows, which date it securely to before 1150, and probably to around 1148, the completion date of Hereford Cathedral, which has some similarities. [continue]
A Telegraph article about the house quotes the current owner:
Posted on August 28, 2003 02:49 PM. Filed under: history & archaeology.You just don't expect to have a Norman window with intricate friezes next to your bathroom. There are Tudor fireplaces and doors and ecclesiastical paintings in the spare bedroom of St Francis of Assisi and Mary and Jesus. When you stop to think about it, it is just astonishing." [full article]