Description

EYNSHAM SP31SE 3/104 Eynsham Hall and attached 03/09/81 forecourt walls (Formerly listed as Eynsham Hall)

GV II

Country house. Built 1904-8 by Sir Ernest George for the Mason family. Squared and coursed grey limestone with ruddy-coloured ashlar quoins and dressings; numerous ruddy-coloured ashlar stacks with moulded diamond-set flues. H-plan. Jacobean style. 3 storeys. Front of 1:3:1:3:1 fenestration. Frontispiece to 3-storey central porch: semi-circular arched doorway with blocked architrave, to very finely-carved panelled doors with cartouches and shell tympanum; Ionic columns to upper storeys, surmounted by nowy-headed armorial panel above parapet level. Stone-mullioned and transomed windows, including tall stair-light left of porch. 3-storey extruded corners with similar windows, and balcony above parapet level on left. Pierced balustrade. Similar garden front has similar armorial panel to central projecting bay; canted bay windows to end bays; and loggias in angles of side wings with Ionic pilasters, banded ashlar stonework and pierced balustrades. Kitchens to left and garden porch with loggia to right in similar style. Interior: finely decorated throughout in Jacobean style. Hall has oak panelling, stone fireplace, strapwork ceiling and fine panelled doors set in Ionic doorcase to stair-hall, which also has strapwork ceiling and 3 service doors on left. Dog-leg staircase has finely-carved openwork balustrade, with balcony on landing and free-flying second flight. Room to rear of hall has strapwork ceiling. Library to rear of stair-hall has mahogany bookcases, finely carved and segmental-pedimented doorcases, fine mid C18 coloured marble fireplace and plasterwork ceiling in Inigo Jones style. Service stairs with turned balusters. Billiard Room in front room of left wing has panelled walls, and deeply-moulded strapwork ceiling: fine French-style chimneypiece, with putti holding armorial cartouche, by William Frith. Dining Room in rear room of left wing has panelled and beamed ceiling, red-silk walls, and very fine mid C18 fireplace which has broken pediment set above ionic overmantle with 2 aedicules. First and second floor rooms have reset C18 and early C19 fireplaces, some very fine. Two first-floor rooms over library have fine C19 coloured marble fireplace, and marquetry framing to fine Oriental Screens of painted birds by Owen Jones, c.1872. Room to right of this has moulded stone fireplace, panelling and strapwork ceiling. Subsidiary features: forecourt walls of similar materials and style with balustrade divided by ashlar piers surmounted by lead urns: end piers, to side entries, have pyramidal scrolled finials. History: built on site of hall built for Lacys in 1760s, which was enlarged by Sir Charles Barry c.1843-5 and by Owen Jones c.1872, and demolished in 1903. The Georgian fireplaces, and very fine oriental screens by Jones were included in the new house. Finished in 1908, the new Eynsham Hall was equipped with its own waterworks, gas plant, electric generating station and private telephone links to all parts of the estate. (National Monuments Record; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.602; H.M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 1978, p.92; Reading University Archives, Oxfordshire 22/16/2/1 for drawings of Oriental screens etc. by Owen Jones; information from V.C.H.).

Listing NGR: SP3953212280

External Links

• Eynsham Hall at Wikipedia
• Eynsham Hall official website
• Wikidata Q5422953

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)