Daylesford is a small, privately owned village and former

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Adlestrop, in the

Cotswold The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...

district, in the county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England, on the border with

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. It is situated just south of the A436 two miles east of

Stow-on-the-Wold Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman ...

and west of

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...

. The village is on the north bank of the small

River Evenlode The River Evenlode is a tributary of the Thames in Oxfordshire. It rises near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, in the Cotswold Hills and flows south-east to the Thames, its valley providing the route of the southern part of the Cotswold Li ...

. This area falls within the

Cotswold Hills The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

, so designated in 1966. In 1931 the parish had a population of 82.

History

In the medieval period the manor was held by the Hastings family. Until 1931 Daylesford was a detached part of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, but in that year it was transferred to Gloucestershire. It was a separate

until 1 April 1935, when it was absorbed into the civil parish of Adlestrop.

Daylesford House

In 1788, Daylesford House was acquired by

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

, Governor-General of India, a descendant of its medieval owners. In the following years, he remodelled the mansion to the designs of

Samuel Pepys Cockerell Samuel Pepys Cockerell (15 February 1753 – 12 July 1827) was an English architect. He was a son of John Cockerell, of Bishop's Hull, Somerset, and the elder brother of Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet, for whom he designed the house he is ...

, modelling it on the grand house he had built at

Alipore Alipore is a neighbourhood of Kolkata, South Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is flanked by the Tolly Nullah to the north, Bhowanipore to the east, the Diamond Harbour R ...

in India. The interior was replete with magnificent classical and Indian decoration (a style later developed successfully at Sezincote House nearby), with much use of silver and crimson. The drawing room and library had furniture made out of ivory brought back from India The gardens were landscaped by John Davenport (fl. 1774). Warren Hastings also rebuilt the Norman Church of St Peter in 1816, where he was buried two years later. The church was again rebuilt to the designs of J. L. Pearson in 1859–63. It is a Grade I Listed Building, having been designated as such on 25 August 1960. During the 20th century, the house and estate were the property of Charles Edward Baring Young, and then

Viscount Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in t ...

, who restored the house with the help of the interior decorator John Fowler, and Baron Heinrich Thyssen. It is currently the Gloucestershire home of Lord Bamford and Lady Bamford, major shareholders in the JCB excavator company, and significant donors to the Conservative Party. The

Earl of Snowdon Earl of Snowdon is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1961, together with the subsidiary title of Viscount Linley, of Nymans in the County of Sussex, by Queen Elizabeth II for her then-brother-in-law, Antony Arms ...

and his family rent a cottage on the estate. The lakeside gardens with wooded walks and unusual trees and shrubs are occasionally open to the public in the summer months. There is a farm shop on the estate, which sells

organic food Organic food, also known as ecological or biological food, refers to foods and beverages produced using methods that comply with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resou ...

under the Daylesford Organic brand.

References

External links

'Parishes: Daylesford', A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3 (1913)
British History Online * Nicholas Mander, ''Country Houses of the Cotswolds'' (Aurum Press, 2008) {{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire Cotswold District