Wroxton Abbey is a Jacobean house in

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 ...

, with a 1727 garden partly converted to the serpentine style between 1731 and 1751. It is west of

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

, off the

A422 road The A422 is an "A" road for east–west journeys in south central England, connecting the county towns of Bedford and Worcester by way of Milton Keynes, Buckingham, Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon. For most of its length, it is a narrow single ...

Wroxton Wroxton is a village and civil parish in the north of Oxfordshire about west of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 546. Wroxton Abbey Wroxton Abbey is a Jacobean country house on the site of a former Augustinian p ...

. It is now the English campus of

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Wroxton Abbey is a modernised 17th-century Jacobean manor house built on the foundations of a 13th-century Augustinian priory. The abbey boasts a great hall, minstrels' gallery, chapel, multi-room library, and royal bedrooms. In addition, there are 45 bedrooms (each with private bath), seminar rooms, offices, basement recreation rooms, and a reception area. Wroxton Abbey, named for its 12th-century origins as a monastery that was destroyed after

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's 1536 Dissolution of the Monasteries. Remnants of that structure remain in the cellarage, so that the building literally rose from the ruins when rebuilt by William Pope, 1st

Earl of Downe Earl of Downe was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 16 October 1628 for Sir William Pope, 1st Baronet. He had already been created a Baronet, of Wilcote in the County of Oxford, in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 an ...

, in the early 17th century. Further additions were made over the following centuries: the property passed from the Popes to the Norths in 1677. The elaborate monuments of the early Pope and North residents are in Wroxton church. The various Lords North and their families, including

Frederick, Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Min ...

and their royal, literary, and Presidential visitors —

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

in 1605,

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

on 13 July 1643,

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

in 1805, 06 and 08,

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

in 1887 where he slept in

the

Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England. The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...

's bed,

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fath ...

as well as the structure itself, led to the Abbey's designation as a Grade One

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 ...

. The grounds comprise of lawns, lakes, and woodlands, and include a serpentine lake, a cascade, a rill and a number of follies: the Gothic

Dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

attributed to

Sanderson Miller Sanderson Miller (1716 – 23 April 1780) was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate. Early life ...

and his Temple-on-the-Mount; the Drayton Arch was built by David Hiorn in 1771.

William Andrews Nesfield William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) was an English soldier, landscape architect and artist. After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing so ...

advised on a formal

flower garden A flower garden or floral garden is any garden or part of a garden where plants that flower are grown and displayed. This normally refers mostly to herbaceous plants, rather than flowering woody plants, which dominate in the shrubbery and w ...

on the south side of the house. A

knot garden A knot garden is a garden of formal design in a square frame, consisting of a variety of aromatic plants and culinary herbs including germander, marjoram, thyme, southernwood, lemon balm, hyssop, costmary, acanthus, mallow, chamomile, rosemary ...

has been added in the 20th century and was illustrated by Blomfield as an example of a "modern garden".

Wroxton College

The lease for Wroxton Abbey was given to

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

by the North and Pope families in 1932. It was sold to New Jersey-based

in 1964. Since 1965, Wroxton Abbey has been Fairleigh Dickinson University's Wroxton College. This campus serves American students from Fairleigh Dickinson's

campuses and international students from Fairleigh Dickinson's Vancouver (Canada) Campus and other American students studying under the British tutorial system. Students study a rigorous curriculum in a variety of courses including several political science, English, art, and other social science courses. In addition to Wroxton's own lecturers, guest lecturers from other British universities will often supplement the academic experience. Wroxton College is accredited by Accreditation Service of International Colleges and was awarded ASIC Premier College Status by that same organization. The US Ambassador to the United Nations,

Adlai Stevenson II Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was twice the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. He was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I, the 23rd vice president of ...

, was scheduled to speak at the official dedication of Wroxton College but died after suffering a heart attack near the US Embassy in London on 14 July 1965.

References

External links

Wroxton Abbey website

Wroxton College website
{{Coord , 52.0714, -1.3936, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Augustinian monasteries in England Monasteries in Oxfordshire Grade I listed houses in Oxfordshire Fairleigh Dickinson University Education in Oxfordshire Cherwell District