Listed Building: Edgcote House (1041170)

Country House, built 1748-54 for Richard Chauncy by William Jones. Important fittings by London craftsmen, joinery by Abraham Swan, decorative plasterwork by John Whitehead. Ironstone ashlar with limestone dressings, old tile roof, stone stacks. Hall and Saloon on central axis with former State Bedroom to left and library to right of hall. Dining Room and Drawing Room flanking the Saloon. Main and secondary stairs on either side of Hall and Saloon in centre of house. Service rooms in basement. Entrance to west. 2 storeys, basement and attic. 9 bays. 3 centre bays project under a pediment. Basement windows have moulded stone frames and 6-pane sashes. Central doorway approached by double flight of stone steps with balustrade, has moulded architrave with triple keystone, pediment on brackets and C20 glazed door. Sash windows on either side with triple keystones. 3-bay side parts have pediment over middle window flanked by windows with keystones. 9-pane sash windows on first floor with moulded architraves and keystones. Modillion cornice, hipped roof. Garden front similar. Side elevations each have 2 storey canted bay in centre. Interior: Hall has stone fireplace framed by scrolls, frieze with blank tablet framed by cornucopiae and open scroll pediment. Panelled ceiling, the ribs with guilloche mouldings. Frieze has tripglyphs alternating with rosettes and rococo cartouches. Entrance to Saloon flanked by arched niches. Doorways have enriched architraves with friezes of bay leaves and 6-panel doors. Saloon has stone fireplace with scroll brackets and a relief of cherubs, birds and dogs. Wood overmantel with fluted Corinthian half-columns and open scroll pediment. Panelled walls and carved doorcases. Ceiling has rococo plasterwork with oval centrepiece of leaf scrolls, flowers and exotic birds and beasts. Portrait medallions in corners. Dining Room has carved wooden fireplace with overmantel similar to that in Saloon, panelled walls and plaster frieze of leaf scrolls and heads. Drawing Room has marble fireplace framed by columns of composite order, the capitals carved with squirrels, the frieze with cherubs. Wooden overmantel with broken pediment and pendants of fruit and flowers. Morning Room (former study) has marble fireplace with carved wooden overmantel, moved from Family Parlour (now kitchen). Library (now Billiard Room) and former State Bedroom were altered in the C19. Open-well mahogany staircase, has balusters carved with wave mouldings and a carved string instead of tread ends. Coved ceiling and square cupola with elaborate plaster work decoration. Said to be re-used C17 panelling from old house in attic rooms. Park laid out in C18, has lake fed from the River Cherwell and an irrigation system with dams and a lock to supply the kitchen garden (q.v.) and power for the Mill (q.v.). Work on the park began in the 1740s before the house was rebuilt. The old house faced south towards the church. It is shown on an estate map dated 1713 at Edgcote House. In 1543 it was purchased by William Chauncy and in 1742 passed to Richard Chauncy, a London merchant. His account books for the re-building and furnishing of Edgcote preserved at the house, record the names of masons and craftsmen, William Smith of Warwick designed the stables (q.v.) shortly before he died in 1747 and may have made designs for the house. However, William Jones was paid for drawing plans and surveying. There is no evidence that his plans were based on designs by Smith. Abraham Swan was well known for the publication of several pattern books notably "A Collection of Designs in Architecture", 1757, the joinery at Edgcote is important as a realisation of his own designs. (H. Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1970, p.799,764,76; H. A Tipping, Edgcote House; Country Life, 10th January 1920; Robert Taylor, R.C.H.M. pers. comm.).

Record last edited

Sep 7 2023 12:11PM