Lord Lansdowne was among those who rushed to help when fire ripped through Bowood’s estate office in the early hours on Sunday, destroying irreplaceable records.

Six fire crews were called to the estate at Derry Hill and a salvage operation was launched at 1.18am to rescue as much as possible.

The alarm was raised after an electrical fault started the fire in the estate office’s conference room. It went up through a corner of the room and into the roof space.

Flames spread along a wing of the estate office, which is arranged around a courtyard, so that the whole section and the five offices running off from the conference room were completely burnt out.

The blaze destroyed estate records, including plans for Bowood dating back to the 18th century.

Lord Lansdowne paid tribute to fire crews and estate staff.

He said: “I am hugely grateful to all those who were involved in the early hours of Sunday morning and thank them all enormously.

“The fire service was remarkable, particularly as it was unusually stretched that night, far beyond normal demands, due to other fires in the area.

“They were quite brilliant in arresting the fire which had spread incredibly fast along the affected stretch of the estate office.

"The Bowood spirit also came to the fore superbly with members of our own team responding wonderfully to the emergency and giving their all too. They have continued to do so over the days since and amid great disruption.”

A Bowood spokesman said: “Some ten people living close by were on the scene straight away, including Lord Lansdowne, resident estate manager Charles Leather and the night security team.

“They did all that they could with fire extinguishers but these were not sufficient to tackle the blaze.

“When the fire services arrived and took control the Bowood team were on hand to assist as they could, making coffee and tea and assisting the fire crew as required.”

Fire officer Paul Jarney said: “It was actually surprisingly close to the visitor centre. At one point in time we had seven fire engines and a command support vehicle along with myself as a level two fire manager and a fire investigation officer.

“That section of the building was completely destroyed and we made a break to stop it spreading.”

It was a busy weekend for fire crews with fires in Codford, near Warminster, and Ogbourne St George, near Marlborough.

Bowood was closed on Monday but re-opened on Tuesday.

Half-term Halloween activities are continuing as planned.