Complex sentence: The first record of a house on the site is in a manuscript folio dated 1465, but that house was completely demolished when construction of the present building began during the life of Piers Legh VII, in the middle of the 16th century.
Split into simpler sentences: The first record of a house on the site is in a manuscript folio dated 1465. This house was completely demolished when the building of the present house started during the life of Piers Legh VII in the middle of the 16th century.