Little Dean Hall, set in the Forest of Dean, is an unassuming stone house, which includes what is thought to be the remains of an Anglo-Saxon hall.
The building stands on high ground to the west of the River Severn. The site is of great archeological importance and nearby is the recently excavated remains of a Roman temple.
The rambling house was constructed around an irregular courtyard, with the main rooms set in the north-facing range. These were probably created after 1612 when the manor was purchased by Charles Bridgeman.
In 1664 the Bridgemans sold the estate to the Pyrke family who remodelled several of the interiors.
The exterior was remodelled in 1852 by Duncombe Pyrke in neo-Jacobean style, with mullioned and transomed windows and a row of small gables.
The interior of the house contains much panelling of the 17th century and later. Facinating items discovered in the excavations on the site are on display in the house.
The cellar, which contains what may be the surviving part of a sunken Anglo-Saxon hall, is probably the oldest room in any English country house open to the public.
Indeed, Little Dean Hall is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as, 'Reputedly England's oldest inhabited house'.
