Rycote is a hamlet southwest of

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

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 ...

. The

Oxfordshire Way The Oxfordshire Way is a long-distance walk in Oxfordshire, England, with 6 miles in Gloucestershire and very short sections in Buckinghamshire. The path links with the Heart of England Way and the Thames Path. The path runs for from Bourton ...

long-distance path passes through.

Saint Michael's chapel

Richard and Sybil Quartermayne, lord and lady of the

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

of Rycote, founded Saint Michael's chapel as a chantry in 1449.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 747 It is a

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...

building with a chancel, nave and west tower. It retains original 15th-century wooden fittings including pews, stalls and a screen.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 748 In the 17th century the chapel was ornamented with a west gallery, altar rails, a

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

and other fittings. The first reredos, dated 1610, is now damaged and in 1974 was kept under the tower. It has been replaced by a second reredos dated 1682.

Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys {{Infobox noble, Baron , name = Henry Norris , title = Baron Norreys , image = Henry Norris 1st Baron Norris of Rycote.jpg , image_size = 240px , caption = Henry Norris, aged 60, 1585 , a ...

is buried here. The chapel is both a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument.

Rycote House

Carved masonry has been found from a substantial house that stood here in the 14th century. Rycote House was a great Tudor

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 ...

that was built here early in the 16th century, probably for Sir John Heron, Treasurer of the Chamber to first Henry VII and then

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 ...

, who bought the

of Rycote on his retirement in 1521.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 748–749 Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, honeymooned here in 1540. Pictures from ''circa'' 1695 and 1714 show that the main part of the house was arranged around a courtyard. It had stepped gables, a gatehouse and polygonal corner turrets with cupolas and was surrounded by a moat. In 1539 Rycote was bought by Sir John Williams, who later was created

Baron Williams of Thame Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

. Baron Williams died without a male heir, so Rycote became part of the Norreys family estates via his son-in-law

.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 749 Charles I visited Rycote in 1625. In 1682 James Bertie, 5th Baron Norreys of Rycote was created 1st Earl of Abingdon. He died in 1699 and a memorial to him in the chapel was erected in 1767. It was long believed that Rycote House burned down in 1745 and that its remains were demolished in 1800, apart from one corner turret and some outbuildings. However, in 2001 Channel 4's '' Time Team'' investigated Rycote Park looking for the remains of the Tudor Rycote House and established that Rycote had been rebuilt after the fire over a period of about 20 years. The Bodleian Library in Oxford holds records of sales of contents and fabric from Rycote, indicating that the Tudor house was sold by lot for removal between 1779 and 1807, the year in which the 5th Earl of Abingdon ordered its demolition. In about 1920 the extensive stables were converted into the present Rycote House. Later Rycote belonged to the Member of Parliament and prominent Rugby Union player

Alfred St. George Hamersley Alfred St George Hamersley (8 October 1848 – 25 February 1929) was a nineteenth-century solicitor and entrepreneur of great renown, an English MP, and an English rugby union international who played in the first ever international match. He ...

(1848–1929). In the chapel there is a memorial to Hamersley made by the sculptor Eric Gill. The house is Grade II* listed.

References

Sources

* {{South Oxfordshire Hamlets in Oxfordshire