Experts from Historic England have been assessing the damage at Parnham House

The Grade I-listed stately home near Beaminster, which dates back to the 16th century, was severely damaged in an arson attack on Easter Saturday.

The multi-millionaire owner of Parnham House, hedge fund manager Michael Treichl, was arrested in connection with the incident and has since been released pending further enquiries.

He has denied being involved and says he wants to rebuild and restore Parnham.

Simon Hickman, the principal inspector of Historic Buildings for Dorset, Devon and Cornwall said Parnham was ‘too important’ not to restore.

He said: “We very much hope it does have a future. It is not a romantic ruin like Corfe Castle where you can’t imagine any purpose for it.

“Parnham is very capable of re-use and we hope it will continue to serve as someone’s family home for the next 500 years.”

Jenny Chesher, buildings inspector for Dorset, was on site this week and Mr Hickman said she was very familiar with the building having been involved in its restoration ten years ago.

Mr Hickman said: “We are putting all our experts onto the case.

“Unfortunately we have got quite a lot of experience of this sort of thing happening. We are are able to supply the experts and determine the best course of action and minimise further loss.

“Discussions about rebuilding will be a long way down the line. They will take place once we know the extent of loss.

“We will be looking essentially at an exercise in damage limitation.

“Obviously the catastrophic effect of the fire is the principal cause of damage but following a fire the building can be very vulnerable to further severe deterioration not least because parts of it will be unsupported.

“It looks like floors and joists have disappeared in some places so some of those stone walls will be quite unstable.

“We will working with specialist demolition contractors about how to do the least possible damage in making the building safe.

“In these fires there is often, despite what looks like a pretty catastrophic collapse inside, likely to be elements of historic fabric that survive.

“It is about coming up with a salvage strategy to see what is significant and what things can be retained.”

Mr Hickman said the advice at this stage is given free.

He added: “Buildings do rise from the ashes – but it is not up to us to make the call about whether it is rebuilt, but it has been rebuilt several times in its life. We must not forget that it was almost entirely remodelled by John Nash in the early 19th century and indeed in the early 20th century there was a very comprehensive restoration.

“When it goes back up it will be rebuilt to standards to prevent this sort of thing happening again.

“It is a very prestigious building in a very beautiful part of the world and despite the fact that it has been very badly damaged someone will want it.”