Coleshill House

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Coleshill House in an etching by John Preston Neale (1818)

Cole Hill House was a country house in the village of Coleshill in Vale-of-White Horse district of the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire ).

Manorial rule

The manor of Coleshill was originally bestowed on the Bonnes-Hommes Priory in Edington , Wiltshire by William de Edingdon , Bishop of Winchester . After the priory was dissolved, it fell to Thomas Seymour and later to Anne, Duchess of Somerset .

In 1601 the property belonged to Sir Thomas Freake , who in 1626 sold it to Henry Pratt , a senior man in the City of London. He died in 1647 and his son, George Pratt , followed him. After his death, his sister inherited the property and married into the Pleydell family .

Mansion

Sir George Pratt owned the property in the 1660s . He and his wife Margaret placed the order to build the country house. The architect was the property owner's cousin, Roger Pratt , who was later appointed Royal Commissioner for the reconstruction of the city after the Great Fire of London in 1666 . Some of the drawings are also attributed to Inigo Jones . The house was completed around 1662.

With its simple, rectangular, symmetrical structure, the house corresponded to the then modern houses on the European mainland, but was adapted to the needs of an English country nobility. Coleshill House had two main floors, as well as a basement and an attic floor, the rooms of which got light through windows in dormer windows. There were chimneys on every corner of the house. The main staircase was arranged in the central hall, which became a representative reception hall. This double staircase led to a balustraded gallery . The balustrade was decorated with stucco fruits and flowers. Each room had a ceiling that was decorated in a different style.

Coleshill House survived without major renovations until the middle of the 20th century. Its interior was furnished with family portraits and old furniture.

World War II and destruction

During World War II , the headquarters of the Auxiliary Units , a secret reaction force in the event of a German invasion of Great Britain, was housed in Coleshill House.

At the end of the war the property was sold to Ernest Cook . In 1952 he commissioned renovation work. In the course of this work a fire broke out that destroyed the house except for the outer walls. A renovation of the fire ruin did not seem possible, so that Coleshill House was completely demolished.

today

Ernest Cook died in 1956. He bequeathed the property to the state, which incorporated it into the Buscot and Coleshill Estates, administered by the National Trust .

In 1989 a box hedge was planted in the shape of the floor plan of the burned down house in the manor's garden, which has been preserved to this day. The garden is open to the public as part of guided tours.

In 2012, on the 60th anniversary of the loss of the country house, an exhibition was opened by the artist Robert Silby , who had observed the fire from his school.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Auxiliary Units History . Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  2. ^ Coleshill House Post War . Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  3. ^ Coleshill House Pre War . Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team. Retrieved April 20, 2015.

swell

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 38 ′ 31.2 "  N , 1 ° 39 ′ 38.2"  W.