Cornbury Park is an estate near

Charlbury Charlbury () is a town and civil parish in the Evenlode Evenlode is a village and civil parish ( ONS Code 23UC051) in the Cotswold District of eastern Gloucestershire in England. Evenlode is bordered by the Gloucestershire parishes of More ...

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 ...

. It comprises about 5000 acres, mostly farmland and woods, including a remnant of the

Wychwood Forest Wychwood or Wychwood Forest is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Witney in Oxfordshire. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1, and an area of is a national nature reserve The site contains a long barr ...

, and was the original venue for the Cornbury

Music Festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

and later the Wilderness Festival.

History

Crowds at the Cornbury Music Festival - geograph

Cornbury used to be a royal hunting estate. The park is first mentioned in the

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as a "demesne forest of the king", which was used for the hunting of deer.

Cornbury House

Cornbury House is a two-storey, eleven-bay

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 ...

English 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 ...

.Listing Text
/ref> Built in the late 16th century, it was enlarged and altered several times, first in 1632-33 by

Nicholas Stone Nicholas Stone (1586/87 – 24 August 1647) was an English sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I, and in 1626 to Charles I. During his career he was the mason responsible for not only the building of ...

for

Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby, KG (28 June 1573 – 20 January 1643/4) was an English soldier. Outlawed after a killing, he regained favour and became a Knight of the Garter. Life He was the second son of Sir John Danvers, Knt., of Daunts ...

. The frontage was by the mason and sculptor Timothy Strong. Further alterations were carried out in 1663-77 by

Hugh May Hugh May (1621 – 21 February 1684) was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowerin ...

who built the east front, the stables, and the chapel (1663–68)John Bold
''May, Hugh''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004; online edn, January 2008, accessed 3 September 2014 for

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (18 February 16099 December 1674), was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II from ...

. In 1901–6, John Belcher removed addition of c. 1850, and altered the house further for

Vernon Watney Vernon may refer to: Places Australia *Vernon County, New South Wales Canada *Vernon, British Columbia, a city * Vernon, Ontario France * Vernon, Ardèche *Vernon, Eure United States * Vernon, Alabama * Vernon, Arizona * Vernon, California ...

. Belcher's work was mostly demolished c. 1972.

Current use

Cornbury Park is currently the home of

Robin Cayzer, 3rd Baron Rotherwick Herbert Robin Cayzer, 3rd Baron Rotherwick (born 12 March 1954) is a British landowner and estate manager. He sat as a hereditary peer in the House of Lords for the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, from 1996 until his retirement in 20 ...

, a Conservative

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

who runs it as a business. Cayzer has developed business units for rental there, and hosts the Wilderness Festival.

References

External links

Cornbury Park
{{coord, 51.862, -1.494, dim:2000_region:GB, display=title Country parks in Oxfordshire Country houses in Oxfordshire Grade I listed houses in Oxfordshire