Beckley Park Beckley and Stowood, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

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