Description

FOREST HILL WITH SHOTOVER SHOTOVER
SP50NE
5/79 Shotover Park
18/07/63

GV I

Country house. c.1715-20 for James Tyrrell Snr. and General James Tyrrell,
possibly by William Townesend of Oxford; extended 1855 by Joshua Sims.
Colourwashed limestone ashlar; Westmorland- and Welsh-slate roofs with stone
stacks. Double-depth plan, extended. 2 storeys plus attics and basement.
7-window C18 front, incorporated in present 15-window front, breaks forward in
the centre 3 bays and has rusticated quoin strips and a heavy entablature, above
which the bays of the attic storey are marked by pilaster strips; windows at
ground and first floors have moulded architraves, floating cornices and sills
supported on consoles. The Ionic pedimented porch is probably mid C19 and the
arched doorway and flanking arched windows may also be alterations. Flanking
4-bay C19 wings are of one storey plus attics with similar details. Roofs are
hipped and partly concealed behind parapets. Rear is without the central break
and stands on a rusticated arcaded basement forming an open loggia beneath the
main block. Arcades of side wings, which are set well back, are original and
were later infilled and extended upwards. Loggia has a plaster ribbed vault with
foliage and trophy roundels and spandrels elaborately ornamented with fruit,
flowers and palm fronds; the central 3 bays have a higher segmental vault and
are recessed further into the basement, framing 2 tiers of openings. The date
1718 is noted as appearing on rainwater heads. Interior: Hall has fluted
pilasters below an entablature in which rosettes alternate with boars heads on
the metopes of the triglyph frieze; the fireplace has flanking consoles
supporting a large broken pediment framing a shell, above which are heavy
plaster festoons of oak leaves; the rear section of the room, at high level, is
marked by a pair of columns flanking steps. Stair hall, to right, has a
cantilevered open-well stair with a cast-iron balustrade and has plaster
trophies below the cornice. At the rear, the central saloon has oak panelling
with carved festoons of fruit and flowers above a marble fireplace comprising a
fluted frieze on large reeded consoles, designed by William Kent. Further
drawing room has Adam-style decoration. The first floor has several rooms with
fielded panelling and the central hall is also panelled, with arched doorways to
the rooms and a central light well with cast-iron balustrade.
(C. Hussey, Country Life, Vol.LIX, pp.240-6; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire,
pp.763-5).

Listing NGR: SP5841506714

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Shotover Park at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17529037

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)