Description

STEEPLE ASTON GRANGE PARK ROAD
SP4726 (South side)
8/105 South Grange, East Grange and
West Grange
- II

Large house, now 3 dwellings. Probably C18, much altered and extended c.1830 for
Thomas Davis; altered and sub-divided late C20. Coursed squared limestone with
ashlar dressings; flint with brick dressings; brick with some rendered
dressings; Stonesfield-slate, artificial stone-slate and concrete plain-tile
roofs with brick stacks. L plan with many additions. Gothick style. 2 storeys
plus attics and 3 storeys plus attics. Former main front has a central
crenellated flint porch with a wide Tudor-arched entrance, flanked by 2-storey
tower-like brick projections from the main range, which have a variety of
pointed and Tudor-style windows plus numerous reliefs and decoration. Irregular
4-window wing, facing the road, includes 2 windows with lozenge-pattern glazing
bars. Further range, parallel with and to rear of the wing, has large
Tudor-style windows and more decorative panels. Central rubble bay and the end
of the rubble return wing to right have similar parapets and decorative panels.
Interior: West Grange contains the original 2-storey entrance hall (now
horizontally divided) with a plaster ribbed vault including elaborate bosses and
corbels, and with 5 plaster roundels on the walls; architraves in hall and
drawing room include heavy egg-and-dart decoration (matched by the hall
fireplace and one panelled door), and a later-C18 Chinese-trellis pattern; fine
mid-C18 painted fireplace, with consoles and festoons, has a bolection-mould
inner surround in black marble which may be a separate early-C18 fireplace.
South Grange has egg-and-dart architraves and early-C19 plaster cornices. East
Grange has some similar architraves on doors leading off the 3-storey apsidal
stair hall, which has a cantilevered stone stair with a cast-iron balustrade;
drawing room has late-C18 architraves and a fine Rococo fireplace with a rustic
scene carved on the central panel. Thomas Davis (died 1863) was Surgeon to
William IV, and is reputed to have brought some of the decorative work from Kew
Palace; Middle Aston House (demolished 1806) has also been suggested as the
source of the fine C18 joinery,
(VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol XI, p23; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p787)

Listing NGR: SP4727326070

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26319482

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings