Ockwells Manor House, Cox Green - geograph

Ockwells Manor is a

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

15th century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

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 authorit ...

of Cox Green, adjoining Maidenhead, in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of Berkshire. It was previously in the parish of Bray. The manor used to own most of the land that is now

Ockwells Park Ockwells Park is a park, part of which is a local nature reserve, in Cox Green, Berkshire, Cox Green, Berkshire, England. The nature reserve is owned by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Geography and site The park is in size. The nat ...

. Ockwells is an early example of a manor built without fortifications, which Sir

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

called "the most refined and the most sophisticated timber-framed mansion in England". It preserves a superb set of contemporary heraldic stained glass in the hall. Many of its

bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...

s and other exterior timbers are run with rich mouldings and carved. Herringbone brickwork provides the infill.

History

The manor was originally given, in 1283, to Richard le Norreys, the chief cook to Queen Eleanor. It passed down through the Norreys family, ending up in the possession of Sir John Norreys,

Keeper of the Wardrobe The King's Wardrobe, together with the Chamber, made up the personal part of medieval English government known as the King's household. Originally the room where the king's clothes, armour, and treasure were stored, the term was expanded to descr ...

to Henry VI, who started re-building the manor in 1446. In the windows of the great hall, Sir John inserted beautiful stained glass, proudly showcasing his Lancastrian connections by displaying the

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

of his friends at Court: * the King *

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

* the Duke of Warwick *

Duke of Somerset Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

Duke of Suffolk Duke of Suffolk is a title that has been created three times in the peerage of England. The dukedom was first created for William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole, who had already been elevated to the ranks of earl and marquess ...

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...

* James Butler, 1st Earl of Wiltshire *Sir John Wenlock,

Baron Wenlock Baron Wenlock is a title that has been created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in 1461 when the soldier Sir John Wenlock was summoned to Parliament as Lord Wen ...

* Baron Mortimer of Chirk * Sir William Laken *Sir Richard Nanfan *Sir John Langford *John Purye *Richard Bulstrode *

Abingdon Abbey Abingdon Abbey ( '' " St Mary's Abbey " '' ) was a Benedictine monastery located in the centre of Abingdon-on-Thames beside the River Thames. The abbey was founded c.675 AD in honour of The Virgin Mary. The Domesday Book of 1086 informs ...

The

Norreys Norreys (also spelt Norris) may refer to various members of, or estates belonging to, a landed family chiefly seated in the English counties of Berkshire and Lancashire and the Irish county of Cork. Famous family members * Baron Norreys of Rycote ...

family lived there until 1517. At that time, Sir John's great-grandson, also Sir John, had to surrender the estate in return for a pardon after having murdered a certain John Enhold of

Nettlebed Nettlebed is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire in the Chiltern Hills about northwest of Henley-on-Thames and southeast of Wallingford. The parish includes the hamlet of Crocker End, about east of the village. The 2011 Census recor ...

. Ockwells was then owned by Sir John's uncle, Sir Thomas Fettiplace. It passed through the

Fettiplace Fettiplace is an English family name, allegedly of Norman descent, originating with a landed gentry family chiefly of Berkshire and Oxfordshire, from which came a baronetical line, extinct. English family The first recorded member of the Fett ...

family, before being owned by the Day family. In 1942 Ockwells' owner, Sir Edward Barry, wished to sell the estate to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

for £75,000.

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extensi ...

, Secretary of the Country Houses Committee of the National Trust, could not justify this sum, and therefore the property was never handed over to the Trust. Lees-Milne revisited Ockwells in 1973 with architectural historian

John Cornforth Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., (7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013) was an AustralianBritish chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel l ...

, who commented that the property is an 'over-restored fake' and deemed it too unimportant for the National Trust.

Notes

Sources and external links

Royal Berkshire History: Ockwells Manor
Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Grade I listed buildings in Berkshire Country houses in Berkshire {{Berkshire-struct-stub