 In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the building housed a succession of shops and underwent various changes which contributed to its physical decline.A Miss Ripley bought the building in 1930, and used it to store her collection of antiques until 1968, allowing the public to see her collection once a year.She bequeathed it to the National Trust in 1971, who undertook the works necessary to make it fit for visitors and saved it from probable destruction.