Description

LYFORD
SU39SE
7/129 Lyford Grange
09/02/66

- II*

House. c.1430-80, for More family: mid C16 alterations and rear wing for Thomas
Yates. Roughcast over original timber framing: C15 close studding with middle
rail to rear wall and to part of adjoining wall of mid C16 right wing. Left side
wall and left wing of limestone rubble. Hipped stone slate roof; mid C16 brick
ridge stack finished in early/mid C18 brick, and moulded top to early/mid C18
ridge stack to left. Courtyard plan: range to rear (north-west) demolished
c.1817. 2 storeys: 4-window front range. C20 flat hood and C19 moulded
architrave to C20 door in central bay. C19 eight-pane sashes in outer bays
except early C18 wood cross-window with leaded-lights to lower left: moulded
wood cornice. Similar cross-window to rear. Right gable wall has C20 French
windows set in C16 cavetto-moulded stone architrave. Moulded end stack to rear
gable wall of truncated right wing. Interior: former hall has, in present attic,
a 4-bay roof of arched-braced collar trusses flanking central collar truss which
has mortices for decorative braces and ends of moulded tie beam: cusp-chamfered
windbraces, and chamfered principals and butt purlins. Timber-framed partition
divides off 2-bay room to left, with queen post truss. 2-bay parlour end to
right: moulded beams, fine mid Cl6 stone moulded fireplace set within mid Cl6
panelled wall on first floor. C16 plank door opens to closet in front of chimney
stack which has 3 lights divided by cavetto-moulded mullions over low studded
wall facing hall, and similar mullion of blocked window to front: deep
embrasured window surround to right suggests original oriel. Roof of right wing
remodelled in C18. This moated site, formerly a grange of Abingdon Abbey, was
acquired in 1538 by John Yates of Charney Bassett. It was probably remodelled
after 1540 by his son Thomas whose son Francis sheltered Edmund Campion of the
ill-fated Jesuit Mission in July 1581: Campion was caught and executed at Tyburn
the following December. An Agnus Dei found in the roof in 1959, bears witness to
his visit since it is dated 1578 and bears the inscription of Pope Gregory XIII.
(V.M. Howse, Lyford: A Parish Record, pp.27-38; V.C.H.: Berkshire, Vol.IV,
pp.285, 290; Evelyn Waugh, Edmund Campion, 1980, pp.141-50).

Listing NGR: SU3961794531

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550236

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey