Description

BECKLEY AND STOWOOD BECKLEY
SP51SE
2/12 Beckley Park
18/07/63 (Formerly listed as Beckley
Park including farm buildings)

GV I

Hunting lodge, now substantial house. c.1540, probably for Lord Williams of
Thame. Dark-red brick diapered with black flared headers, limestone ashlar
dressings and rubble plinth; old plain-tile roof and brick stacks. 4-unit
through-passage plan. 2 storeys plus attics. Symmetrical 5-window front, with
moulded plinth and plaster eaves cove, has 2-light stone mullioned and transomed
windows to the 4 outer bays, all with labels and leaded lights; 3-light
mullioned and transomed window, at centre of first floor, replaces a canted bay
window, traces of which survive. Mullions are unchamfered and are moulded with
recessed faces. Central hip-roofed porch, with moulded 4-centre arched entrance
under label, shelters a chamfered 4-centre arched doorway with an old panelled
door; porch originally extended higher; there is a small triangular window
immediately to right and a stone cartouche just above its roof. Main roof has
clustered diagonal stacks to right of centre and on end gables. Left gable wall
has a large projecting chimney, 2-light hollow-chamfered mullioned and transomed
windows and a 4-centre arched doorway. Right gable has a corbelled stack. Rear
has 2-light hollow-chamfered mullioned windows, and has a large lateral chimney
and 3 full-freight gabled projections, the central tower wider and with a
4-centre arched doorway. All gables have stone parapets with double-corbelled
kneelers. 2 windows at the-rear retain early glazing with lozenge-shaped
quarries. Interior: Entrance leads into former screens passage. Hall to left has
a Tudor-arched fireplace, in a moulded rectangular surround, and shares a
timber-framed internal porch with a parlour, to extreme left, which has a
4-centre arched fireplace and C17 panelling up to door-head height. To right of
the passage, a timber-framed partition contains the moulded 4-centre arched
buttery doorway; the buttery was enlarged, at an early date, at the expense of
the former kitchen beyond, which contains a large fireplace with 2 massive
stones forming a chamfered 4-centred arch. The stair tower, opening off the rear
of the passage, contains a full-height circular newel stair of massive timber
baulks with smooth-chamfered soffit; original trellis balustrade at the head of
the stair. The outer towers contained garderobe flues. The bedrooms have further
stone-arched fireplaces and original joinery, including several pairs of the
hinged-frame shutters which also survive on some ground-floor windows and are
remarkable both for their rare design and the delicacy of their hinges and
latches. The attic floor contains a long room, with arched fireplace, and large
windowed bays at the top of the garderobe towers. The former hall screen has
been recovered but has not been replaced. The house stands on the triple-moated
site of the capital seat of the Honour of St. Valery, formerly held by the Earls
of Cornwall and Princes of Wales,
(C,Hussey, Country Life, Vol.LXV, pp.400-408; V.C.H.:0xfordshire, Vol.V,
pp.57-9; Buildings of England: 0xfordshire, pp.448-9).

Listing NGR: SP5772211975

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Beckley Park at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4878748

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)