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Ashdown House, Oxfordshire

Coordinates: 51°32′10″N 1°35′47″W / 51.5362°N 1.5963°W / 51.5362; -1.5963
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Ashdown House from Parterre garden

Ashdown House (also known as Ashdown Park) is a 17th-century country house in the civil parish of Ashbury in the English county of Oxfordshire. Until 1974 the house was in the county of Berkshire, and the nearby village of Lambourn remains in that county.

It is a Grade I listed building[1] and the grounds are included in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens at Grade II*.[2]

History

Ashdown House is associated with the "Winter Queen" Elizabeth of Bohemia, the older sister of Charles I. Along with his house at Hamstead Marshall, it is said that William, the first Earl of Craven built Ashdown for her, but she died in 1662 before construction began.[3]

Ashdown House and its south lodge

Although the architect is uncertain, it is thought that Craven commissioned Captain William Winde to build the Dutch-style mansion as a hunting lodge and refuge from the plague. The building also acted as a grandstand to watch a hunt within the park.[citation needed]

The house features 8,000 square feet (740 m2) of living space, a large central staircase, reception rooms, interlinking drawing and sitting rooms, a kitchen, a dining room and eight bedrooms. The property includes two lodges, three cottages and a hundred acres of land.[citation needed]

The house was originally built at the junction of the four rides in Craven's hunting park – the four avenues no longer survive as they once did, but portions of them remain. The house is isolated, and the view from the roof includes park-like grounds and gardens, and beyond, woods and pastures. Nearby is a large group of sarsen stones and Alfred's Castle,[4] a scheduled Iron Age hillfort.[5]

At least one of the woods of Ashdown Park predates the house. Glastonbury Abbey held the manor of Ashbury until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.[6] A deer park was established for the Abbey in the south of the parish.[7] It is bounded by an ancient embankment enclosing a rounded area characteristic of Medieval deer parks.[8] The embankment would have been topped by a park pale, probably of cleft oak stakes.[8] The park may equate to the Aysshen Wood that a terrier of the parish in 1519 recorded as covering 415 acres (168 ha).[6] The former deer park is now the Upper Wood of Ashdown Park. Ashdown Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[9]

Although a few alterations were made to the house, the building remained largely as-built until it was requisitioned for use by the army during World War II. The occupation left it in a near derelict state.[10] The National Trust has owned Ashdown House since 1956 when it was donated to the trust by Cornelia, Countess of Craven (wife of William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven).[11] The house is tenanted, and has been renovated by recent lease holders. In 2010 Pete Townshend bought a 41-year lease on the property[12][13] and in 2011 a structural renovation was begun. Public access is restricted to the stairs and roof, with broad views of Berkshire Downs. There is also public access to the neighbouring Ashdown Woods.[14][15] Admission to the house is by guided tour on Wednesdays and Saturdays from April to October.

Ghosts

Ashdown House from the northwest

There are a handful of ghost stories associated with the house. Ashdown is reputedly 'haunted' by a quiet, calm and lonely ghost of the Earl who mourns the Winter Queen. [16]

There have been accounts of a phantom child crying in the woods, the poltergiest of a Victorian groom who once supposedly killed himself in the stables, and a spectral vision of a lady clad in grey silk looking out at the view of a second-floor window. All three are believed to be related with each other, around a local myth about a love affair at the house,[16] however, there is no surviving historical evidence.

It is not known how many of these stories are genuine, or rather tales of a local culture.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "ASHDOWN HOUSE, Ashbury - 1048765 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  2. ^ "ASHDOWN HOUSE, Ashbury - 1000502 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Berkshire History : Ashdown Park". Nash Ford Publishing. 2002. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
  4. ^ "Ashdown House - National Trust | Culture24".
  5. ^ "Alfred's Castle univallate hillfort, Ashbury - 1015551 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  6. ^ a b Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 503–512
  7. ^ Ford, David Nash (2004). "Ashbury". Royal Berkshire History. David Nash Ford. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  8. ^ a b Rackham, 1976, page 144
  9. ^ "SITE NAME: ASHDOWN PARK" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  10. ^ Davies, Helen (3 May 2009). "Ashdown House: a model of refinement". London: Timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  11. ^ "National Trust, Ashdown House | Art UK".
  12. ^ Mikhailova, Anna (30 May 2010). "Talkin' 'bout my National Trust generation". London: Timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  13. ^ Slade, Jane (7 July 2010). "Pete Townshend's palace fit for a king (of rock)". Daily Express. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Ashdown House : Facilities". National Trust. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
  15. ^ "Ashdown House : What to see & do". National Trust. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
  16. ^ a b c "Haunted Ashdown House, Oxfordshire". Haunted Island. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2022.

Further reading


51°32′10″N 1°35′47″W / 51.5362°N 1.5963°W / 51.5362; -1.5963

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