Description

BRITWELL
SU69SE
2/2 Britwell House and attached
18/07/63 walls and coach house
(Formerly listed as Britwell
House)

GV II*

Country house. Dated 1728 on rainwater head. Probably by William Townsend for
Sir Edward Simeon: chapel of 1767-9 by Sir Edward Simeon. Flemish bond red brick
with limestone quoins and dressings; side walls of grey brick with red brick
bands and dressings. Welsh slate roof, copper roof over chapel; brick stacks.
Central block linked by quadrant wings to flanking pavilions: chapel to rear
left. Early Georgian style. 2 storeys and attic; 4-bay range with pedimented
central bays having lunette in tympanum. Steps with urns to doorway: panelled
double doors set in moulded stone architrave with carved stone brackets to
moulded flat hood. Segmental-arched moulded shouldered architraves to 6-pane
sashes with thick glazing bars. Moulded stone plinth course and bold cornice;
raised chamfered quoins. Hipped roof; end and internal stacks. Pedimented roof-
dormers in side walls. Quadrant wings have early C20 first-floors, C20 extension
to left, and gauged brick flat arches over sashes and 2 panelled doors. 2-storey
pavilion to right has 5-bay inner side wall and 3-bay front wall, similar arches
over sashes and 2-panelled door; hipped Welsh slate roof with ridge stack.
Similar pavilion to left has carriage entry with moulded brick and stone round
arches. Chapel to rear left has pedimented doorway. Interior: panelled doors.
Hall has keyed round-arched doorways flanking shell niche and Baroque fireplace
with satyrs masks and scrolled pediment embracing a plasterwork vase of flowers,
bold triglyph frieze, and pedimented Doric doorway to rear rooms which have mid
C18 fireplaces. Fine cantilevered dog-leg staircase to right of hall has twisted
balusters. Corinthian newel posts and panelled dado with Corinthian pilasters.
Dog-leg stairs to left have turned balusters. Panelled room of c.1767-9 connects
to chapel; panelled dado, fine plasterwork panels over pedimented doorcases and
round-headed niche, coupled Corinthian columns to fine modillioned cornice and
magnificent plaster ceiling "with acanthus scrolls, garlands, urns and cherubs
supporting a chalice" (Pevsner). First floor has panelled rooms, and landing
with fine plaster cornice leading to T-shaped panelled room with Ionic pilasters
and round-headed, pedimented and segmental-pedimented doorcases. Subsidiary
features: flanking walls to front with brick piers to plank double doors
attached on left to early C19 brick coachhouse with 3 round-arched doorways and
C20 pantile roof surmounted by bell cupola. The Simeons were a Catholic family:
the poor Clares of Aire in Artois, fled the French Revolution and stayed here
from 1789 to 1813.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.486-7; 6. Jackson-Stops, "Britwell
Salome, Oxfordshire", Country Life, 1972, pp.810-814, 883-887; V.C.H.:
Oxfordshire, Vol.VIII, p.44).

Listing NGR: SU6677792455

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17549139

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas