Listing Text

GREAT MILTON CHURCH ROAD
SP60SW (West side)
5/116 The Great House
18/07/63 (Formerly listed as Milton
House)

GV II*

Large house. Rear wing, C16/C17; front range late C17/early C18; garden range
dated 1788 on rainwater heads. Garden range almost certainly by James Wyatt for
Richard Ryder, Home Secretary. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings;
ashlar; old plain-tile and Welsh slate roofs with brick and stone stacks.
U-plan. 2 storeys plus attics. 7-window front, with plinth, plain parapet and
heavy moulded cornice, is divided 2:3:2 with the side bays breaking forward.
Central glazed door has moulded stone architrave and flanking fluted pilasters
supporting a flat hood. All windows have early sashes with thick glazing bars
and are framed by moulded stone architraves with aprons. Hipped roof, with 5
hipped 2-light dormers arranged 1:3:1, has tall stone stacks projecting from the
end walls with brick shafts. 7-window 2-storey garden range to left, in ashlar
with first-floor sill band and moulded cornice, has 2-storey, 3-window
semi-circular bay to right of centre and, to right of it, a tripartite sash
window at ground floor. Sashes are all large with very thin glazing bars. A
shallow hipped Welsh slate roof is concealed by the plain parapet. Early rear
wing to right of front range, with a stone moulded gable parapet with projecting
kneelers and a large projecting lateral stack, has been re-windowed with sashes
including a tripartite sash. Interior: Central hall has late C17 panelling with
arched panels over the fireplace. Garden range contains an ante-room with
distyle in antis Doric screen supporting a 3-centred central arch, a bow-ended
drawing room with delicate honeysuckle frieze and marble fireplace with relief
panel of Muse of Music, and a 3-window saloon with similar frieze and a marble
fireplace with central panel of a cherub driving a chariot containing a lion and
a goat. 2 late C18 stairs, both with wreathed handrails and stick
balusters.(V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol. VII, p,120; Buildings of England:
Oxfordshire, p.623).

Listing NGR: SP6274802394