Oxenford Farm is a former

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

farm, a dependency of

Waverley Abbey Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester. Located about southeast of Farnham, Surrey, it is situated on a flood-plain; surrounded by current and previous channels o ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Witley Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AO ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, with several

listed building 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 ...

s around a courtyard, including three by

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

Buildings

The three highest listed buildings, at Grade II*, are

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

buildings designed by

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

-famed

ist

. *Oxenford Gate Lodge - Grade II* 1843-44 by Pugin; approached over a bridge; includes octagonal turret,

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

crucifix (cross) and

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

. *Granary and Farm Buildings at Oxenford Farm - Grade II* 1843 by Pugin;

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

ed and primarily built from

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

dressed stone. *Barn at Oxenford Grange - Grade II*;

ed and primarily built from

dressed stone. *Oxenford Grange Farm House - Grade II possibly on medieval foundations but 17th, 19th and 20th century brick dressed sandstone rubble. *Oxenford Lodge - Grade II 1763 by William Chambers also for the estate of Viscount Middleton

Remains of Oxenford Grange

*Remains of Oxenford Grange - Grade II the walls survive; date uncertain, listed as reputed to be remains of this dependency of Waverley Abbey; consistent with 13-14th gothic architecture; destroyed before 1775 when

Peper Harow Peper Harow is a rural village and civil parish in south-west Surrey close to the town of Godalming. It was a noted early cricket venue. Its easternmost fields are in part given up to the A3 trunk road. Location and history The name "Peper Haro ...

House was erected instead of an intended house on this site for Viscount Middleton.

History

Richer de Aquila (

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction of ...

) granted Oxenford to

before 1147. It was a Cistercian monastery farming community for Waverley Abbey until 1536 when Oxenford was granted to Sir William Fitz William during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when it was valued at £4 13s. 4d. The buildings are in recent times within the nearby

estate.

Popular culture

The buildings and their surrounding grounds, near small woods less than 100 metres away to the south and west, were used as a location for ''

Robin Hood (2010 film) ''Robin Hood'' is a 2010 action film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Mark Addy, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Eileen Atkins, and Max von Sydow. Deve ...

''.

References

{{reflist

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20120424045321/http://www.peperharow.info/oxenfrd.htm Gothic Revival architecture in Surrey Archaeological sites in Surrey