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Carswell Manor is a Jacobean country house at Carswell in the civil parish of Buckland in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire). It is just north of the A420 road between Swindon and Oxford.
The manorial estate of Carswell was occupied by the St Philibert family and their tenant Richard Hake, until 1358 when it was quitclaimed by Sir John de St Philibert to King Edward III. It then descended to King Richard II, who granted it to his Queen, Anne, in 1383. Anne granted it to her Chamberlain Sir Richard de Abberbury, who received the reversion in fee from the King in 1385, and in 1393 Sir Richard sold Carswell to Sir Peter Bessels and his mother Katherine, who already held another manor in the same parish. [1] During the fifteenth century it descended in a troubled course through the Bessels family to William Bessels (died 1515). His daughter and heir Elizabeth made her first marriage to Richard Fettiplace, and the manor descended by 1584 to Bessel Fettiplace, who in that year sold it to John Southby the elder (died 1599), "Yeoman". [1] [2] From him it passed to his son Richard Southby and to Richard's son John Southby the younger, who sat as MP in the First and Second Protectorate Parliament: it descended in the Southby family (through Richard Southby MP and John Southby MP) until the late 19th century. [1] [3]
The three-storey manor house dates back to the early 17th century. It is constructed mainly of Cotswold stone and surrounded by mature woodland. Within the extensive grounds there is a ha-ha. There is also a dovecote dating from 1619 which is purported to be the first square dovecote built in Berkshire. The house and dovecote are both Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. [4] [5]
The house was probably built for John Southby who was High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1646/7 and MP for Berkshire in 1654–56. His family had occupied the manor and lived on the site since 1584, and continued there until 1892. [1]
The buildings were extensively restored and remodelled between 1893 and 1898 by William Niven (1846-1921), an architect who had designed the Gothic revival church of St Alban in Teddington. Niven's son (the father of the actor David Niven) then bought the house to be his country seat. The Niven family's crest and motto are still set in stone above the front porch. The Niven family sold the property shortly after David's birth.
The house was bought by Captain Francis Mourilyan Butler and his wife Josephine (née Lawrence), the daughter of Joseph Jeremiah Lawrence of New London, Connecticut whose father founded Miner, Lawrence and Co. and the National Whaling Bank. In October 1917, during World War I, Captain Butler was killed near Ypres. His only son (Francis Charles Joseph Butler), born in 1915, was brought up at Carswell Manor and became a noted aviator. In June 1940, whilst serving as a Pilot Officer in the RAFVR, the younger Francis went missing in action. This led to the legal case "Butler's Settlement Trust, Lloyds Bank Ltd. v. Ford" (as to whether being reported missing was sufficient evidence of death) and ultimately led to the sale of the property. There are memorials to both father and son in nearby Buckland church.
Since 1945, Carswell Manor has been the home of St Hugh's School, an exclusive preparatory school which moved there from Malvern, where it had been evacuated during the war.
Sir Thomas Englefield was Speaker of the House of Commons.
Besselsleigh or Bessels Leigh is a village and civil parish about 4+1⁄2 miles (7 km) south-west of Oxford. Besselsleigh was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is just off the A420 road between Oxford and Swindon.
Buckland is a village and large civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse District. Buckland was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 588. Outside the village the civil parish includes the small settlements of Carswell and Barcote to the west, Buckland Marsh to the north, and the modern development of Gainfield on the southern boundary.
The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'.
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Ockwells Manor is a timber-framed 15th century manor house in the civil parish of Cox Green, adjoining Maidenhead, in the English 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.
Appleton is a village in the civil parish of Appleton-with-Eaton, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Abingdon. Historically in Berkshire, the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire for administrative purposes. The 2011 Census recorded Appleton-with-Eaton's parish population as 915.
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.
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John Fettiplace of Besils-Leigh in Berkshire, was a member of the landed gentry and of the prominent Fettiplace family who served as a Member of Parliament for Berkshire in 1558 and twice served as Sheriff of Berkshire, in 1568 and 1577.
John Fettiplace (1583–1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1626 and 1644. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.
Richard Southby was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and from 1679 to 1689.
John Southby (1594–1683) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1654 to 1656.
Sir Humphrey Forster, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1677 and 1695.
Holcombe Rogus is a historic manor in the parish of Holcombe Rogus in Devon, England. The present grade I listed Tudor manor house known as Holcombe Court was built by Sir Roger Bluett c.1540 and was owned by the Bluett family until 1858 when the estate was sold to Rev. William Rayer. The house is immediately to the west of the parish church. The gardens and grounds are screened off from the public road at the south by a high wall in which is a tall and broad entrance archway which forms the start of the entrance drive.
Sir Richard Arches, of Eythrope, in the parish of Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, was MP for Buckinghamshire in 1402. He was knighted before 1401.
This is a list of Sheriffs of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. One sheriff was appointed for both counties from 1248 until the end of 1566, after which separate sheriffs were appointed. See High Sheriff of Berkshire and High Sheriff of Oxfordshire for dates before 1248 or after 1566.
Elinor Fettiplace was an English cookery book writer. Probably born in Pauntley, Gloucestershire into an upper class land-owning farming family, she married into the well-connected Fettiplace family and moved to a manor house in the Vale of White Horse, in what was then Berkshire.
John Southby, of Carswell Manor, Buckland, Berkshire, was an English Member of Parliament for Abingdon in 1689–90.