The 16th century hunting lodge is the eastern portion of the present house. There were four storeys: the lowest contained the kitchen, the ground floor was probably divided into two separate reception rooms, the first floor was a banqueting room and the second floor provided the sleeping chambers. The roof was flat with access to enable Sir Nicholas and his guests to take advantage of the wonderful panorama afforded from the very top of the building.

Around 1600 the Poyntz family sold Newark to a London merchant called Low and in 1608 Sir Thomas Low was lord of the manor. By 1672 another tower-like block was added on the west and joined centrally by a passage stairway, so the house took on an H plan. In the new building on the upper floor a full-length gallery was created and today the barrel ceiling can still be seen. 1722 saw the property sold again, this time to the Harding family for ?6,010 and during the ownership of the Harding's further alterations were made to the house at a cost of ?1,000. In 1769 the Harding's sold the property to James Clutterbuck: it was the Clutterbuck descendent, Mrs C A Clutterbuck, who bequeathed the property to the National Trust in 1949. James Clutterbuck passed the estate to his first cousin Lewis Clutterbuck who became rector of Ozleworth: it was Lewis who commissioned the major improvements to the house, garden and park in 1790. It appears that James Wyatt was architect for the house and lodges and an unknown landscape designer improved the grounds and made a new deer park to the south of the house. The Clutterbuck's lived at Newark until 1860 when for some reason they decided to let the house. Newark remained a tenanted property of the Clutterbuck's until 1949.

A prosperous period for the house began in 1898 when an affluent family called King leased Newark. The Kings were shipping merchants from Bristol and on taking up occupation of the house they set about making improvements: it was they who added the wing on the north side of the house to provide accommodation for servants. They installed a hot air heating system to the ground floor and devised a way to feed hot water to the second floor. The house was redecorated and William Morris paper was used in many rooms. (The only surviving Morris paper is in the dining room). The King's created new gardens including rockeries and a cliff walk below the house. The Kings lived at Newark until 1949 when the last of them died.

With the National Trust taking possession in 1949 a further twenty years of letting continued. The house was let to a succession of tenants who adapted the house for use as a nursing home. By 1970 it had become very run down and the garden lost to nature. The Trust was now seeking a tenant who would take on a repairing lease and start to rehabilitate the house and its garden.