Bletchington Park is a Grade II* listed

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Bletchingdon Bletchingdon (also known as Bletchington) is a village and civil parish north of Kidlington and southwest of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. Bletchingdon parish includes the hamlet of Enslow just over west of the village. The 2011 Census r ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

History

Bletchington's medieval manor house was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Coghill in about 1630. It was fortified and garrisoned by 200

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

s under Colonel

Francis Windebank Sir Francis Windebank (1582 – 1 September 1646) was an English politician who was Secretary of State under Charles I. Biography Francis was the only son of Sir Thomas Windebank of Hougham, Lincolnshire, who owed his advancement to the Cecil ...

during the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

, before being over-run by

Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

s during Cromwell's raid in 1644. The Coghill family sold it to Lord Valentia in 1716. The present house is a Palladian country house built in 1782 next to the parish church by James Lewis for

Arthur Annesley, 5th Earl of Anglesey Arthur Annesley, 5th Earl of Anglesey PC, PC (Ire) ( – 31 March 1737), of Farnborough, Hampshire, Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire, and Knockgrenan, near Camolin, county Wexford, was an Anglo-Irish Tory politician who sat in the English and British ...

(also the 6th Viscount Valentia). Bletchington village was originally built around a green, but the houses on the north side were pulled down when Bletchingdon Park was extended. The estate remained in the Valentia family until 1948, when Lord Valentia sold it to the Hon. William Astor, who resold it in 1953 to the Hon. Robin Cayzer, later Lord Rotherwick. In 1993, the estate was bought by Dr. Michael Peagram, a chemicals industrialist and philanthropist, who had the house historically restored. In 2012, the 22,600-square-foot house was listed for sale at a price of 20 million pounds.

History

References

Sources

Further reading