SADNESS has been expressed as one of Malmesbury's most historic buildings, Cowbridge House, is taken down.

The stately home, which has stood proudly by the River Avon in various guises since the 1700s, is finally being pulled down piece-by-piece, to make way for housing.

The house was one of the Ministry of Defence's most important sites during the Second World War, as a 1,000-strong workforce helped secretly develop the world's first radar systems there.

Malmesbury author Bob Browning, who has written a book on Cowbridge House, said he was saddened to see it go.

"I feel very nostalgic about it really," he said.

"It does depress me, because the town's hospital has gone, Cowbridge House is going and who knows what's going to happen to Burton Hill."

Over 150 live and work units are set to be built in place of the house, and the rest of the industrial site, formerly occupied by Lucent Technologies.

Salvage company The Reclaimers has purchased Cowbridge House itself.

It has started a 12-week programme to pull it down and will sell on bits of the house to other builders.

Steve Oliver, of the Bristol-based company, said: "It's on its way down now and a lot of the bits and pieces of it are going to be reused.

"It's a laborious process and everything is so heavy, because it's all big lumps of Bath stone.

"It's a very historical building, with the radar systems being developed there.

"It's a lovely job for us and we will do well out of it, but it does seem a shame to see it go.

"Parts of it will go to making whole houses and other bits will probably go to private estates."

Town councillor Charles Vernon said: "The unfortunate part about it is that it had been neglected for many years.

"There are a few interesting bits still left there that could look very nice in a different context, but it is, unfortunately, past its sell-by date.

"On a couple of occasions we have been able to open it up and we have had quite a few hundred people in when we have done that."

Radio manufacturer Eric Kirkham Cole was approached by the MoD in 1939 to assist in developing secret radar systems, to combat the German Luftwaffe.

The Ekco company bought the house and set it up as a shadow factory, with its true purpose well hidden.

Lucent Technologies vacated the site in 2002.