MANORS
The 14-hide estate at Ducklington
which King Edgar granted to his 'minister'
Earnulf in 958 seems to have been reduced in
size before 1086, when only 11 hides were
recorded on two Ducklington estates. The shortfall was partly accounted for by the creation of
a 2½-hide estate at Claywell, although probably
only I hide of that had been part of the Saxon
estate at Ducklington; possibly the transfer to
Standlake of a large area in the south of the estate
had already taken place. (fn. 36)
In 1086 Robert d'Oilly held 4 hides in Ducklington in chief. He was probably also the Robert
who was tenant there of 7 hides of the fee of
William FitzOsbern, earl of Hereford, whose
lands had passed to the Crown in 1075 after the
rebellion of William's son Roger. (fn. 37) Robert
d'Oilly died c. 1093 and DUCKLINGTON
manor descended with his barony of Hook Norton. (fn. 38) Henry d'Oilly, lord in 1230, died without
issue in 1232; his heir, after the dower of his relict
Maud (d. 1261), wife of William de Cauntelo,
was a nephew Thomas de Newburgh, earl of
Warwick (d. 1242). Thomas's sister and heir
Margaret, countess of Warwick, was recorded as
overlord of 2 knights' fees in Ducklington in
1242-3. (fn. 39) The reversion escheated to the Crown
on her death without issue in 1253, but was
regranted to her husband John de Plessis who
entered on the manor on Maud de Cauntelo's
death. (fn. 40) John died in 1263 and Ducklington
descended from father to son in the Plessis
family, being held by four successive Hughs. (fn. 41)
John de Plessis, brother and heir of Hugh (d.
1349), died without issue in or before 1354. The
barony of Plessis, which had been created in
1297, passed to John's sister Eleanor Lenvesey, (fn. 42)
but Ducklington seems to have descended
separately: a Hugh de Plessis (d. 1363) and a
John de Plessis (fl. 1372) were recorded as
overlords (fn. 43) but thereafter the heirs of the former
undertenants held in chief.
The Roger who was recorded as Robert
d'Oilly's tenant at Ducklington in 1086 was
probably Roger de Chesney, since Ducklington
and Roger's other Domesday estates at Heyford
and Wicken (Northants.) were all later held by
the Chesneys. (fn. 44) Hugh de Chesney (fl. 1163),
probably Roger's eldest son, was succeeded before 1166 by Ralph de Chesney 'of Ducklington',
who was amerced for forest offences in 1176. (fn. 45)
Ralph died c. 1195 and Ducklington passed to
his daughter Lucy and her husband Guy de
Dive. (fn. 46) Guy died in 1218 leaving a minor son
William who before 1224 married Margaret,
daughter of his guardian John of Bassingbourn,
and died in 1261. (fn. 47) His son John died fighting
against the king at Evesham in 1265. (fn. 48) Osbert
Giffard was granted the forfeited lands and the
wardship of the heir, but Ducklington was
granted for life to John's relict Sibyl, a decision
disputed by Giffard in 1268 on the ground that
Ducklington was the most valuable part of the
Dive estates. (fn. 49) Sibyl and her second husband
Richard of Carbrook retained the manor into the
1290s. (fn. 50) In 1292 free warren in Ducklington was
granted to John de Dive, son of Sibyl's son
Henry (d. 1277), but he was not formally granted
seisin until of age in 1295. (fn. 51)
John died in 1310 and was followed by his son
Henry (d. 1326 or 1327). (fn. 52) Henry's relict
Martha, assigned dower in two thirds of the
manor in 1327, (fn. 53) was still in possession in 1343
when a settlement of the manor was made by
Henry's son John. (fn. 54) After John's unrecorded death
c. 1350 (fn. 55) the manor seems to have descended in
two parts until reunited in the hands of the Lovel
family in the mid 15th century.
One part, held with the advowson and acquiring the name of DUCKLINGTON BRETON,
derived from the dower in one third of the manor
held by John de Dive's relict Joan, who married
William Breton. Breton was a landholder in
Ducklington in 1361, (fn. 56) and Joan was still alive
in 1386. (fn. 57) Presumably she conveyed Ducklington to John, Lord Lovel who at his death in
1408 held a Ducklington manor, allegedly of
Gilbert, Lord Talbot, perhaps because of suit
owed to Bampton hundred court. (fn. 58) Level's son
John died in 1414 holding the reversion of
Ducklington Breton after the life interest of his
mother Maud, who died in 1423 holding, by
the same service as John, Lord Lovel (d. 1408),
what was evidently about a third of the earlier
Ducklington manor. (fn. 59) She was succeeded by her
grandson William Lovel, Lord Lovel and
Holand (d. 1455), who held Ducklington as 1
knight's fee in 1428. (fn. 60)
The other two thirds of Ducklington passed
from John de Dive (d. c. 1350) to his son Henry
(d. c. 1360), (fn. 61) who during his lifetime let, and
later seems to have granted, the reversion to
Roger Mortimer (d. 1360), earl of March. (fn. 62) The
life interest of Henry's relict Elizabeth, who
married Edward Twyford, was established
despite several challenges, notably in 1372 when
the manor was mistakenly taken into the king's
hands and regranted to Edmund Mortimer, earl
of March. (fn. 63) In 1377 Edmund agreed to pay an
annuity to Elizabeth Paries, presumably the
former Elizabeth Twyford, in return for her life
interest in Ducklington, (fn. 64) but before his death
in 1381 he had granted his reversionary interest
for life to a retainer, Sir John, later Lord Lovel
(d. 1408). (fn. 65) Ducklington was not recorded
among the possessions of Roger Mortimer (d.
1398), earl of March, but in 1415 Roger's son
Edmund, earl of March, settled the manor in
trust. (fn. 66) Before his death in 1425 Edmund
granted an annuity of £10 from the manor to
William Cottesmore, who was recorded as lord
of ½ fee at Ducklington in 1428. (fn. 67) During the
minority of Edmund Mortimer's nephew and heir
Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, the fee was
in royal hands. (fn. 68) In 1449 Richard reunited the
manor by granting his portion of Ducklington
to the lord of the other portion, William Lovel,
Lord Lovel. (fn. 69) Ducklington's later inclusion in
the possessions of the earldom of March claimed
by the Crown against the coheirs of Edward IV
was presumably an error. (fn. 70)
Shortly before his death in 1455 William Lovel
settled the reunited manor, still nominally
held of the Talbots for hundredal service at
Bampton, on trustees; (fn. 71) it passed to his son John
(d. 1465) and John's relict Joan (d. 1466), both
of whom held from Roger Beaufitz, presumably
associated with John Talbot (d, 1473) earl of
Shrewsbury, a minor. (fn. 72) Their son Francis, until
1477 a minor in the wardship of Richard Neville,
earl of Warwick, and others, (fn. 73) died at or after
the battle of Stoke in 1487. (fn. 74) As an opponent of
Henry VII he had been attainted in 1485, and
in 1486 Ducklington was granted from the
forfeited estates to Thomas Lovel, possibly a
kinsman, son of Sir Ralph Lovel of Barton
Bendish (Norf.). Thomas, chancellor of the Exchequer under Henry VII and Henry VIII, died
without issue in 1524 having bequeathed the
manor to his nephew Francis Lovel, but because
the grant of 1486 had been in tail male Ducklington reverted to the Crown. (fn. 75)
In 1525 the king granted it to Sir Thomas
More, after whose attainder and execution in
1535 it was regranted to the courtier Sir Henry
Norreys. The following year Norreys was attainted
and executed for alleged intimacy with Anne
Boleyn. (fn. 76) Ducklington was then retained by the
Crown and administered by a bailiff. (fn. 77) In 1545
it was bought by speculators, Sir Richard Long
and Christopher Edmonds, (fn. 78) who sold it in or
before 1547 to Sir John Williams of Rycote,
treasurer of the Court of Augmentations. (fn. 79) By
1552 Williams had sold it to Sir John Brome of
Holton, (fn. 80) who died in 1558 holding Ducklington
in chief. (fn. 81) His son Sir Christopher Brome (d.
1589), in financial difficulties, disposed of much
of the manor, including Barley Park, (fn. 82) and in
1591 Sir Christopher's son George sold the rest
to Walter Jones of Chastleton and his son
Henry. (fn. 83) In 1603 they sold Ducklington manor
to the owners of Barley Park, William Bayley
and his wife Elizabeth. (fn. 84) The manor descended
in the Bayley family from father to son, William
(d. 1613) being succeeded by Richard (d. 1644)
and William (d. 1688). (fn. 85) In 1685 William sold
the advowson and mortgaged the manor, and in
1687 the mortgagee, Richard Stevens, acquired a
1,000-year lease without provision for redemption. (fn. 86) William Bayley's son William (d. 1716)
retained an interest, however, and when Barley
Park was sold in the 1690s Bayley was associated
with Stevens's executor in the sale of at least part
of it, Moulden's wood. (fn. 87) They may have disposed of most of the manorial estate: in 1697
Bayley, by then of Yelford, sold two Ducklington farms, (fn. 88) and when in 1712 he and an
unidentified Col. Chivers (perhaps connected
with Stevens) sold the manor to Simon Harcourt,
Lord Harcourt, the only land besides the manorhouse grounds was a 3-yardland estate let for
years at rack rent. (fn. 89) The manor descended with
Harcourt's Cokethorpe Park estate. (fn. 90) Manorial
rights were recorded into the 20th century. (fn. 91)
The medieval manor house, described in some
detail in 1328 when it was divided for dower, (fn. 92)
was set in a garden which extended to the river
Windrush. By 1430, however, there was only a
precinct which 'once contained' a manor house. (fn. 93)
Its probable site was Court close, recorded from
the 16th century, a large field between the
church and the river. (fn. 94)
From the later Middle Ages Ducklington's
lords were non-resident until in the early 17th
century William Bayley (d. 1613) rebuilt a house
bought from Robert Foster, whose holding had
been granted away from the manor on a 2,000year lease in 1587. (fn. 95) The house retained the
name Foster's in the 1680s, (fn. 96) but was evidently
the Ducklington manor house granted to
Harcourt in 1712. (fn. 97) In 1722 he let it for lives to an
associate, Samuel Scott, and his wife Elizabeth, (fn. 98)
but after Scott's death in 1727 the manor house
was in hand. (fn. 99) It was repaired in 1723, but
lessees in the 1740s paid rents so low that decay
seems indicated. (fn. 1) The manor house was pulled
down c. 1754. (fn. 2) The 'close where the manor
house stood' (fn. 3) was probably that called in 1838
Manor close, south-east of the surviving Yew
Tree House: (fn. 4) the Bayleys' house is known to
have abutted a furlong called Lillands, which lay
immediately south-west of Manor close on the
site of the modern Feilden Close. (fn. 5) A house on the
Witney road, demolished c. 1840 and reputedly
the 'old manor house', was the chief house of a
substantial estate but not a manor house. (fn. 6)
Claywell lay within the Ducklington estate
granted by King Edgar in 958. (fn. 7) Part of Claywell
probably belonged to one of the Ducklington
estates mentioned in 1086, since 8 yardlands
there belonged to Richard of Carbrook in 1279. (fn. 8)
That land descended with Ducklington manor
later; quitrents paid to the manor in 1716 for an
estate formerly Lord's were probably for Claywell, (fn. 9)
and part of the site of the former village was later
attached to Ducklington manorial holdings. (fn. 10)
Some of Claywell, however, was probably
separated from the Ducklington estate before
the Conquest: in 1086 Theodoric the goldsmith,
who had been in the service of Edward the
Confessor, held 2½ hides in 'Welde' (Claywell),
which had been held freely by his wife. (fn. 11) Theodoric was succeeded by Walter de Cauz, (fn. 12) who
in 1179 granted the estate, as 1 hide in Claywell
and 1½ hide in Aston, to the tenant Ralph de
Chesney, lord of Ducklington, reserving a rent
of 15s. a year. (fn. 13) Before 1185 Ralph granted the
Claywell hide and the Aston land to Eynsham
abbey, which was to pay the same rent to
Walter. (fn. 14) The abbey acquired at least 2 more
yardlands from later lords of Ducklington, Guy
and William de Dive, (fn. 15) and its Claywell estate
in 1279 comprised perhaps 7 yardlands, with a
further yardland in Putlesley. (fn. 16) In the mid I3th
century the abbey was released from the 15s. rent
by an heir to the estates of Walter de Cauz,
Cecily de Cumberwell. (fn. 17)
Eynsham abbey retained EAST WEALD,
later CLAYWELL, manor until the Dissolution,
administering it in the later Middle Ages, when
it was perhaps reduced to a single farm, with
Shifford manor (in Bampton). (fn. 18) It passed with
Shifford to Sir George Darcey in 1539, to Sir
Edward North in 1543, to the Stanleys, earls of
Derby, in 1545, and was purchased in 1600 by
Joseph Mayne of Creslow (Bucks.). (fn. 19) From 1544
Claywell was sublet by Sir Edward North to
Leonard Yate of Witney, clothier, (fn. 20) and Yates of
Witney were still suitors of Shifford court for
land in Claywell, not necessarily the farm estate,
in the 1570s. (fn. 21) In 1610 Claywell farm, reckoned
as 5 yardlands, was held, on a long lease of
unknown date, by Thomas North, (fn. 22) but in that
year Joseph Mayne sold the freehold, along with
his Shifford estate, to Sir David Williams and
Edward Yate of Buckland (formerly Berks.). (fn. 23) In
1612 Williams and Yate completed a partition
whereby Claywell passed to Yate, whose son Sir
John was holding it when sequestrated for recusancy in 1654. (fn. 24) After his death c. 1658 it was
held by his son Sir Charles (d. 1680) and
grandson Sir John (d. 1690). Sir John's sister
and heir, Mary Throckmorton, and Apollonia
Yate, eldest daughter of Sir John (d. c. 1658), who
was granted a reversionary interest in Claywell
in 1658, were still holding Yate estates (perhaps
including Claywell) in 1717. (fn. 25) Before 1731, however, Claywell passed to William Townesend,
from whom it was bought by the Revd. Samuel
Adams, who in that year made a settlement. (fn. 26)
Adams (d. 1751), rector of Alvescot, bequeathed
Claywell, after the life interests of his wife
Susannah and niece Elizabeth Adams to a
nephew, the Revd. Knightley Adams (d. 1769),
who did not, however, hold Claywell at his
death. (fn. 27) By 1785 the owner of Claywell was John
Woolridge, and from c. 1818 until the 1840s it
was owned and farmed by the Townsends of
Cote; (fn. 28) by 1847 it was farmed by James Wood-
bridge, who had married a Townsend, and it
remained in his family until the 1890s. (fn. 29)
In 1544 Leonard Yate's tenancy of Claywell
was disputed by Thomas Ford, the occupier. (fn. 30)
The Lord family farmed Claywell for much of
the 17th century, (fn. 31) the Leveridges in the early
18th, and the Foxes in the late 18th. (fn. 32) Claywell
Farm, standing among the earthworks of the
deserted settlement, may occupy the site of
Eynsham abbey's early manor house. Presumably it was the house on which, in 1662,
Christopher Lord was assessed on 5 hearths. (fn. 33)
The surviving building is L-shaped and stoneslated, its symmetrical dressed-stone south front
rebuilt or added in 1842 by the Townsends, (fn. 34)
its coursed rubble rear range probably 18th-
century. A farm cottage to the north, built before
1839, (fn. 35) was largely remodelled c. 1990.
In 1086 Hardwick presumably belonged to one
of the two estates recorded under Brighthampton, and probably to the 1½ hide which Wadard
held of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and which was
forfeited to the Crown on Odo's fall. (fn. 36) In 1131
Henry I granted land worth £10 from the royal
manor of Bampton to the newly founded priory
of St. Gervase and St. Protase attached to the
cathedral of Sees (Orne); the land was said to be
in Brighthampton, but then and later evidently
included Hardwick, (fn. 37) which continued to be
claimed as ancient demesne. (fn. 38) The £10 worth of
land was accounted for annually in the Exchequer, (fn. 39) and in 1199 the estate was included in a
papal confirmation of the priory's possessions. (fn. 40)
It was enlarged at various times, but in 1242-3
was still recorded as £10 worth of land in
Hardwick. (fn. 41) In or before 1245 the priory granted
its estate in Brighthampton, Hardwick, and
Yelford to Walter de Grey, archbishop of York,
who gave it to his nephew Walter, son of Robert
de Grey. (fn. 42) The estate, previously held in free
alms, was assessed at 1/20th of a knight's fee; in
1295 it was said to be held freely, but the knight
service was confirmed in 1304 and later. (fn. 43)
After the death of the younger Walter de Grey
in 1268 (fn. 44)
HARDWICK manor descended with
the Greys' adjacent estates in Cogges and
Standlake from father to son to Bartholomew,
Lord Grey (d. 1375). (fn. 45) Bartholomew's brother
and heir Robert, Lord Grey (d. 1388) was
succeeded by his second wife Elizabeth (later
Clinton, later Russell), who held in dower until
her death in 1423. (fn. 46) The manor then passed to
the coheirs of Joan Deincourt (d. 1408), daughter of Robert de Grey (d. 1388): they were Alice,
wife of William Lovel, Lord Lovel, and Margaret,
wife of Sir Ralph Cromwell. (fn. 47) Margaret died
without issue in 1454, (fn. 48) and when Alice, as Lady
Sudeley, died in 1474 her heir was her grandson
Francis, Lord Lovel. (fn. 49)
On Lovel's attainder after the battle of Bosworth Field the forfeited manor was granted by
Henry VII in 1486 to his uncle Jasper, duke of
Bedford. (fn. 50) On Jasper's death without legitimate
issue in 1495 (fn. 51) it reverted to the Crown and was
regranted in 1514 to Thomas Howard, duke of
Norfolk. (fn. 52) Thomas's son and heir Thomas sold it
back to the Crown in 1540. (fn. 53) In 1544 part of
it, centred on Yelford, was granted to Alexander
Unton and passed later to Wadham College,
Oxford. (fn. 54) The rest was granted in 1554 as 1/40;th
of a knight's fee to John Herle, esquire of the
Stable. (fn. 55) Herle sold a few holdings in Hardwick
in 1569, (fn. 56) but the main estate, as the manor of
HARDWICK AND BRIGHTHAMPTON, was
sold in 1571 to St. John's College, Oxford, which
retained it thereafter. (fn. 57)
The manor contained a court and curtilage in
1295, but in 1312 the manor house was reported
to be 'not built' and in 1423 only the site of a
manor was valued. (fn. 58) The site may have been
Court close in Hardwick, belonging to St. John's
College and let with the mill in the 16th and 17th
centuries. (fn. 59) Court close was not named among
the lands (apparently unchanged) included in
the mill estate in the 19th century, but may have
been one of the adjacent closes, by then partly
occupied by farm buildings. (fn. 60) Manor Farm,
another St. John's holding, acquired that name
in the 20th century, and was earlier College
Farm. (fn. 61)
All the area covered by the surviving
Cokethorpe Park, including the chapel, lay
within the bounds of the large Ducklington
estate granted by King Edgar in 958. (fn. 62) Some of
it descended with that estate and became part of
Ducklington manor, but by the 13th century
much of the west side of the area, including the
site of the later Cokethorpe House but not the
chapel, was attached to Standlake manor and
belonged to Standlake parish. (fn. 63) In 1279 Clement
of Cokethorpe's freehold house held of the
Giffard portion of Standlake manor may have
been in Cokethorpe. Three other holdings certainly in Cokethorpe at that date were all
attached to Ducklington manor. (fn. 64) One of them,
a freehold tenement of Robert of Yelford, was
presumably among the 3 houses and 2½ yardlands in Cokethorpe held by Edmund Walwyn
at his death in 1439, since elsewhere the
Walwyns succeeded to the Yelford family's estates. (fn. 65) Edmund's estate was said to be held of
William Lovel's Hardwick manor, although it
seems more likely to have been held of Ducklington manor, also held by the Lovels. (fn. 66) On the
death of Joan Lovel in 1466 she was said to
be holding Ducklington manor and also
COKETHORPE manor, perhaps referring to
the Walwyn estate; it was worth only £2 13s.
4d., and was reportedly held by Joan in socage
from Sir Richard Reyser. (fn. 67) That name was
perhaps an error for Thomas Raysaker, Ducklington's rector, whose precursor as rector in
1444 was taking the revenues of Edmund
Walwyn's estate. (fn. 68) The Walwyn property in
Cokethorpe has not been identified later, nor any
other reference found to the Lovels' reputed
Cokethorpe manor. Ducklington manor retained
at least 4 tenements in Cokethorpe in the early
16th century, (fn. 69) and estates in Hardwick, Yelford,
and Sutton (in Stanton Harcourt) at various
times claimed appurtenancies there. (fn. 70) The bulk
of the later park, however, descended with
Standlake manor.
In 1555 the reversion of some former
Standlake demesne, including many closes and
meadows later associated with Cokethorpe and
by then known usually as Golofers manor, was
acquired by Francis Fettiplace from Cuthbert
Temple. (fn. 71) Fettiplace (d. 1558) also held another
part of Standlake, once belonging to the Giffards
and later the Fienneses: in 1573 his daughter
Cecily and her husband Edward East of Bledlow
(Bucks.) settled the manor of GOLOFERS or
GIFFARDS alias STANDLAKE FIENNES
on themselves and their heirs. (fn. 72) The Easts, noted
recusants, were resident at Cokethorpe by 1577;
their only daughter Dorothy (d. 1588) married
Thomas Fitzherbert, later, in exile, a leading
Jesuit. (fn. 73) The Easts were still concerned in the
manor in 1606, but in 1610 Fitzherbert's son
Edward and his wife Bridget sold it to Sir David
Williams. (fn. 74)
Williams, a justice of King's Bench, died in
1613, having settled the estate on his second son
Thomas. (fn. 75) Thomas (d. 1636) was resident at
Cokethorpe until at least 1623. (fn. 76) His son David
was married at Cokethorpe in 1634 to Elizabeth
Carew, whose family, headed by Sir Matthew
Carew, seem to have been resident, perhaps as
lessees, from 1625 or earlier. (fn. 77) In 1635 David
Williams sold the manor to Elizabeth Stonehouse of Radley (formerly Berks.) and her third
son William. (fn. 78) The Stonehouse family lived at
Cokethorpe for most of the 17th century. At his
death in 1660 William Stonehouse was succeeded by his eldest son William; (fn. 79) Nicholas
Bowell (d. 1688), who was also living at
Cokethorpe in 1673, had married the elder William's relict Elizabeth. (fn. 80) In 1696 William
Stonehouse conveyed the manor, by then sometimes also called COKETHORPE manor, (fn. 81) to
William Jennens, who in that year granted it to
trustees on his marriage to Mary Wiseman. After
Jennens's death in 1708 an Act was obtained to
clear incumbrances on the estate, and by 1710 it
had been acquired by Sir Simon Harcourt, one
of the trustees of 1696. (fn. 82)
Sir Simon, appointed Lord Keeper in 1710
and Lord Chancellor in 1713, created Baron
Harcourt in 1711 and Viscount Harcourt in
1721, added Ducklington manor to the estate in
1712; Cokethorpe was his principal residence. (fn. 83)
After his death in 1727 his third wife Elizabeth
(d. 1748) retained a life interest, but she gave
Simon's grandson and heir Simon, created Earl
Harcourt in 1749, possession of the house and
park; in 1737 he was formally leasing from her
the farmland. (fn. 84) In the early 1750s Earl Harcourt
extended the Cokethorpe estate, notably by
buying Barley Park, but from 1755 was planning
a new seat at Nuneham Courtenay. (fn. 85)
In 1766 he sold the Cokethorpe estate to
Maximilian Western, (fn. 86) son of Maximilian Western (d. 1764), a director of the East India
Company. (fn. 87) Western resided at Cokethorpe until his death in 1801, having been predeceased
by his son Maximilian (d. 1795). (fn. 88) His heirs,
after the life interest of his relict Elizabeth (d.
1804), (fn. 89) were his daughters Elizabeth, wife of
Francis Sackville Lloyd (later Lloyd Wheate) of
Glympton Park, (fn. 90) and Frances, who in 1803
married Walter Strickland of Boynton (Yorks.). (fn. 91)
After Lloyd Wheate's death in 1812 the Stricklands seem to have become sole owners. By 1817
they were resident at Cokethorpe, which after
the death of Maximilian Western had been
let, notably to Capt. Edward Shirley. (fn. 92) Walter
Strickland died in 1839 and was succeeded by
his son Walter, who in 1844 married Catherine
Thornhill; Walter died in 1870 and Catherine in
1892. (fn. 93) The estate then passed to Clement Aldemar Cottrell-Dormer (d. 1906), grandson of
Charles Cottrell-Dormer of Rousham (d. 1874)
and Frances, eldest daughter of Walter Strickland (d. 1839). Cokethorpe was occupied for
much of the late 19th century and early 20th by
C. A. Cottrell-Dormer's younger brother, John
(later John Upton). (fn. 94) In 1908 the estate was sold
to Capt. P. H. G. Feilden who was resident from
1911 until his death in 1944. He was succeeded
by his son Major-General (later Sir) Randle Guy
Feilden. In 1957 the house and part of the park
were let to Francis Brown, who opened
Cokethorpe School. In 1966 the school trustees
bought the freehold. (fn. 95)
Figure 13:
Cokethorpe House
There was probably no gentleman's house at
Cokethorpe until the Easts settled there in the
1570s. In 1611, when held by Sir David Williams, the estate included a close 'whereon the
house now standeth and is to be builded'. (fn. 96) The
intended new building was perhaps complete
by 1613 when Sir David Williams bequeathed
plate which was to remain at Cokethorpe 'as
heirlooms'. (fn. 97) For a time, when occupied by
Williams's son Thomas, the house seems to have
been called Williams Lodge. (fn. 98) Probably it was
the building which, until the later 18th century,
occupied the site of the east front and part of the
forecourt of the surviving Cokethorpe House. (fn. 99)
Simon, Lord Harcourt (d. 1727), seems to have
begun his extensions to that earlier house on the
north: (fn. 1) to the projecting block (incorporating the
staff common room in 1995) which possibly
pre-dates the Harcourts (fn. 2) he added on the west
a five-bayed range and end pavilion. The range
contained some high-status rooms until (probably in the early 20th century) it became the
kitchen block. The surviving south front was
built c. 1720, as an extension of the earlier house,
to the designs of Dr. George Clarke of Oxford. (fn. 3)
Its centrepiece is a 3-bayed panelled room, later
called the Queen Anne room (though postdating her death) (fn. 4) or the Corinthian room,
referring to the heavy pilasters which punctuate
the oak panelling; when the east front was rebuilt
the room was extended eastwards by one bay to
incorporate an existing small room, the earlier
wall being replaced by panelled Corinthian
piers. In the early 18th century the Corinthian
room was evidently the chief reception room,
while the panelled headmaster's study on the
west was the state bedroom. Above the Corinthian room was a 3-bayed library, completed in
1721, (fn. 5) stripped out and turned into bedrooms
probably in the mid 19th century.
The earlier, 17th-century, house was demolished and replaced by the existing east front and
central canted entrance bay (fn. 6) soon after
Cokethorpe was purchased by Maximilian
Western in 1766. The roof balustrades and some
of the attics seem to have been the work of
Walter Strickland in the 1820s, (fn. 7) although attics
on the south were allegedly added in 1844,
presumably on the marriage of Walter Strickland (d. 1870). (fn. 8) For several years following their
purchase of the house in 1908 the Feildens
extensively renovated the interior in 18th-century
style, altering or replacing panelling, and adding
fireplaces. (fn. 9) All the sash windows on the principal
fronts date from that period. The stables and
service buildings which form the western court
were built at various times from the early 18th
century; (fn. 10) the circular building in the centre was
probably a game larder.
By the 1620s the grounds of Cokethorpe House
extended well to the east of the house, (fn. 11) but the
creation and landscaping of the surviving park
seems to have been the work of the Harcourts
in the earlier 18th century. There was reference
c. 1711 to three demolished houses in
Cokethorpe, including Mountain's, which had
stood near the road some 80 m. north-east of the
chapel, (fn. 12) and in 1712 the north side of the
churchyard was annexed to allow an avenue or
vista to be laid out from the east front of the
house towards the road. (fn. 13) Much of the east side
of the later park, however, seems to have remained in closes, many of them arable, and some
of the hamlet survived. Between the chapel and
road was 'Peck's house', the farmhouse for the
estate's principal farm, which seems to have
continued in use for many years. (fn. 14) Another,
unlocated, house (Hart's), with a substantial
attached estate in the Ducklington part of
Cokethorpe, also survived into the 1720s. (fn. 15) The
park was extended by Simon, later Earl, Harcourt
some time after he took over Cokethorpe in
1727. By 1745 he had acquired Hart's estate,
which was kept in hand, (fn. 16) and by then the
estate's farmland was much reduced and probably no longer worked from the farmhouse near
the chapel. (fn. 17) Harcourt had added to the park on
the west by acquiring the Lawns, between Home
and Boys woods, formerly held by the lords of
Yelford; (fn. 18) the Long Train, a wood at the west
end of the Lawns, was probably planted to mark
a new park boundary. (fn. 19) By 1766 when Harcourt
sold the park it had reached its full extent and
was estimated variously at between 280 a. and
310 a., including Home wood and the Lawns; (fn. 20)
it extended east to the river and was well wooded
throughout, with no significant buildings except
Cokethorpe House, the isolated chapel, and the
Water House (later Fish House) on the river
Windrush. (fn. 21)
Figure 14:
Cokethorpe Park in 1876
Fish House (fn. 22) was evidently designed as an eyecatcher, but its primary function was to pump
water to the house and estate. It was built in
1723-4, replacing an earlier 'fish house' of unknown date and purpose. (fn. 23) It comprised a
gothicized tower, incorporating re-used fragments of carved masonry; it housed a watermill
and a dwelling house, perhaps for a fisherman.
The undershot water-wheel was linked to pumping equipment, and the survival of grinding
stones indicates a dual function. (fn. 24) The house
abutting the tower dates from the mid 19th
century.
Walter Strickland (d. 1839) laid out gardens at
Cokethorpe House 'on an improved principle',
perhaps those surrounding the house which by
1839 were divided from the park by a ha-ha; by
1876 they included formal gardens, a wilderness,
and a fountain. (fn. 25) Strickland also built the surviving lodges where the Ducklington-Standlake
road entered and left the park; that on the north
was Coachman's Lodge in 1831. (fn. 26) By the 1870s
there was no sign of an avenue or vista passing
the north side of the chapel; the surviving avenue
from the house to the north lodge, aligned on
the steeple of Witney church, was seriously
decayed, suggesting that it had been part of the
18th-century design; there were indications of
a possible vista towards Fish House. The trees
in the body of the park were chiefly deciduous,
but evergreens, perhaps 19th-century additions,
had been planted extensively in Fish House
plantation and other peripheral belts, and in the
garden south of the house. (fn. 27) The north avenue
was restored before 1921, (fn. 28) but elsewhere in the
park many trees were lost in the 20th century,
particularly through elm disease in the 1970s.