The Gunners Cottage seems to have been the last of the houses added to the Gardens, and possibly dates as late as the war years, which might account for the notably unique design of the building compared to the rest of the Garden structures.
The cottage is built on the site of one of the former glasshouses that were likely more functional than the Conservatories that remain today and were dotted around this part of the garden. The remains of this glasshouse's infrastructure can still be found in the grounds of the Gunner Cottage to this day, but the building itself seems to have fallen out of use during the final years of the 20th Earl's ownership and was removed before the estate was sold.
Of all the houses in the park, the Gunner’s Cottage was the last to be lived in and was still occupied until the early 2000s. In recent years the cottage itself has been surrounded by a high fence which hides the building completely. The fence seems to have originally been added to provide a backdrop to one of the scenes in the short-lived Garden Lantern Trail in 2020, but has remained in place no doubt to shield the building, which is likely now in a poor state after years without occupation