Description

YANWORTH STOWELL PARK
SP 01 SE
7/102 Stowell Park
23.1.52
GV II*
Country house. Built c1600 for Robert Atkinson, Recorder of
Oxford, on site of an earlier house, enlarged for the Earl of Eldon
by Sir John Belcher 1886-98, ballroom added 1913. North and west
fronts of main body and ballroom, ashlar, other walls limestone
rubble. C17-early C18 wing coursed roughly squared limestone.
Late C19 apartments and entrance dressed random limestone, partly
converted barn adjoining ballroom, coursed squared and dressed
limestone. Stone slate roof, ashlar stacks. Complex plan
comprising 'L'-shaped Elizabethan main body. Former entrance front
on west with C19 summerhouse attached at north-west corner, similar
summerhouse, now reduced in size, formerly at south-west corner.
Late C19 extension and present entrance (by Belcher) at south-east
corner of main body. Three-sided courtyard formed by left-hand
return of Elizabethan range, early C20 ballroom opposite linked to
the former via passage. Partly converted barn at far gable end of
ballroom. Possibly late C17-early C18 extension at gable end of
left-hand return of Elizabethan range (extended by one bay C19).
C19 dairy and further C19 range at right angles at rear. West
front (Elizabethan entrance front); 2 storeys and attic lit by 3
roof dormers (largely obscured by battlemented parapet). 2:3:2
bays, the outer bays break forwards slightly. All stone-mullioned
cross windows with double-ridged mouldings and moulded hoods on
consoles. Windows in west front possibly replaced C19.
Rectangular leaded panes to casements. Central C20 part-glazed
double door within round-headed surround with C20 fanlight.
Renaissance entablature on short Ionic pilasters at impost level.
Atkinson coat of arms in tympanum of pediment. Single storey,
single bay summerhouse projects forwards left. Single stone-
mullioned cross window at front. Double, glazed door with leaded
panes at centre of right-hand return within round-headed surround,
paired Roman Doric pilasters either side of doorway, tall single
rectangular windows with leaded panes and further pilasters either
side. North front of Elizabethan range; 5 bays, the outer bays
with 2-storey bay windows with Doric parapets and 3 ball finials.
Cross windows as in west front. Ballroom facing north front with
side and diagonal buttresses with offsets and large carved scrolls
at height of battlemented parapet. C17-early C18 wing; 2½ storeys
with roof dormers at rear and single gable with 2-light casement
adjoining north front of Elizabethan main body. Two cross-shaped
slits below gable. Range otherwise lit by stone-mullioned cross
windows and 2-light stone-mullioned casements. Single storey,
buttressed late C19 dairy with louvred octagonal roof with finial
at apex. Late C19 extension and entrance with octagonal corner
turret with cupola, decorative string gargoyles -below battlemented
parapet. Open-sided Renaissance style porch with battlemented
parapet with semi-circular merlons, round-headed arch with paired
fluted Roman Doric columns either side. Gothic vault with carved
stone bosses within inner porch. Single light, 2 and 3-light
stone-mullioned casements some with transoms. Continuous hood over
first floor windows incorporating beast's head gargoyles. Parapet,
mostly battlemented. Some C17 lead rainwater heads and downpipes
to Elizabethan range. Axial and gable end stacks.
Interior not accessible but according to Verey the windows of the
late C19 entrance hall contain C19 armorial stained glass showing .
the coats of arms of the families connected with the house,
including Martell c1100, Tame 1520, Wentworth, Earl of Strafford,
c1640, and Howe; Lord Chedworth, c1722. The inner hall contains a
C19 carved stone fireplace with the arms of Howe of Stowell, the
Earl of Eldon, and Lord Vestey, added in 1923. In the Elizabethan
part of the house, the drawing room is reputed to have panelling of
c1600 with an arcaded dado carved with cherubs on the 'keystones'
and two tiers of Doric and Ionic pilasters. At least two 'Tudor'-
arched stone doorways. Most of the interior was however altered by
Sir John Belcher 1886-98.
(David Verey, The Buildings of England; The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: SP0870413048

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Stowell Park at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7620702

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

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings