The first resident was one of the canons who served the Cathedral, the Wardrobe later passed into the hands of the Bishop of Salisbury. It is probable that use as a storehouse and administrative base for the Bishop’s household that led to its name of The Wardrobe, a title first recorded in 1543.

In 1568 the Bishop exchanged it with the Dean and Chapter for a more convenient building and it was then let to a series of non-clerical tenants. During their occupation it underwent many alterations.

King Charles II, who stayed in Salisbury to escape the plague in 1665, housed his servants here and it is the ghost of one of these, a ‘grey lady’, who died of influenza who has been seen sitting in the corner of the ‘Regimental Room’.

A Cavalier, a recent sighting, moves around the building, he is possibly a poltergeist as staff members have reported items such as documents as having being moved or even lost.

The first tenant following renovations in 1830 was Dr John Grove. His daughter Henrietta married James Hussey, a local JP. The house remained in the Hussey family until James and Henrietta’s daughter Margaret (who was born in the house) died at The Wardrobe in January 1941 at the age of 90. It then ceased to be a private residence. The ghost of Margaret has also been seen in the Regimental Room.

After use in the Second World War as a hostel of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) it was rented in 1945 by the Diocesan Training College for Schoolmistresses (based at The King’s House) to provide accommodation for 25 students and 2 members of staff. This use continued until 1969. The building then remained empty for some years until it became today’s’ museum.