Adderbury House
| Adderbury House | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Adderbury House | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP47633564 |
| Location: | 52°1’2"N, 1°18’26"W |
| Village: | Adderbury |
| History | |
| Built 17th century | |
| For: | Earl of Rochester |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
Adderbury House is a country house in East Adderbury built in the 17th century. It was owned by Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, who fought on the Royalist side during the Civil War. Wilmot was a cavalry commander with Prince Rupert of the Rhine, and both men kept troops at Adderbury House.
Though a house of the Stuart era, Adderbury House is in form mainly a Georgian mansion. It has been remodelled several times: in 1661 for Anne Wilmot, Countess of Rochester, in 1722 for John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, in 1731 by the architect Roger Morris and in 1768 by the architect Sir William Chambers for Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, before being drastically rebuilt in 1808.[1]
This house is a Grade II listed building.[1]
The house
After the seventeenth century alterations, the house was mostly demolished in 1808. It house was re-modelled and enlarged 1891 for Major J W Larnach
The house is set out on a courtyard plan, in the baroque style. It is over 3 storeys, with a 6-window south front, now the entrance front. The outer bays are probably of 1722, as this date is inscribed on two very fine lead rainwater heads: return walls both have plainer lead heads dated 1750, and on the west is a head bearing the Argyll crest and a date noted as 1724. The late-19th century east and west ranges have similar windows. The east range probably incorporates some walling from the earlier building. Beneath the single-storey kitchen range are the cellars of the early eighteenth century north range.
Gardens
In early 1760s Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was asked to create a plan for the park & gardens at Adderbury for Jane, Duchess of Argyll. It is more likely that improvements to the landscape were overseen at a later date by Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch after he inherited the estate from her in 1767. Brown's account book shows a charge of £42 for a journey to Adderbury & the preparation of plan 'for alteration of the Park & Gardens'.[2]
It is unclear how much, if any, of Brown's plans were implemented but when the estate was sold in 1774, the grounds consisted of 224 acres of flower gardens, parkland enclosed by belts of evergreens and forest trees and “a fine serpentine stream of water in full view of the house”[3] which was very much in his style.
In mid 1850s owner William Hunt Chamberlin altered lake area and turned it into pleasure grounds with ornamental buildings & planting.[4]
Past owners
The house was built for the Earls of Rochester. The poet Anne Wharton, wife of the Whig politician Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton, died at the house in 1685.
By 1722 the house and estate were owned by the Duke of Argyll and by the end of that century by the Duke of Buccleuch.
In the late Victorian period the house was owned by Major J W Larnach. When his Adderbury-trained horse Jeddah won the Derby at odds of 100–1 and also won at Ascot, the Major paid for the building of the Village Institute.
Today, the house has become a nursing home.
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 National Heritage List 1046370: Adderbury House (Grade II listing)
- ↑ "Capability Brown's account book on the RHS website". https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/libraries-at-rhs/collections/library-online/capability-brown-account-book.
- ↑ "Capability Brown Festival". http://www.capabilitybrown.org/garden/adderbury-house.
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2
