Middleton Park is a rural

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in the parish of Middleton Stoney,

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 ...

, England, about west of Bicester. The grounds are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and include several historic buildings, notably a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

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 ...

with

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

service wing and lodges.

History

The current house was designed by the English architect

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

and his son Robert for George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey. It was built in 1935–38 on the site of a mid-18th-century house that had been built for

William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey, 6th Viscount Grandison, (died 28 August 1769) was an English peer and politician from the Villiers family. Life He was the son of William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's P ...

. It was Lutyens' last great country house. In 1974 it was converted into apartments. The estate is privately owned. In the park east of the house are Middleton's Grade II* listed Norman parish church and the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The park also includes kitchen gardens, pleasure grounds, commercial woodland and the cricket ground belonging to Middleton Stoney Cricket Club.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Country houses in Oxfordshire Grade I listed houses in Oxfordshire Grade II* listed buildings in Oxfordshire Grade II listed garden and park buildings Houses completed in 1938 Works of Edwin Lutyens in England {{Oxfordshire-struct-stub