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Stonor Park

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Coordinates:51°35′47″N0°55′46″W/ 51.596490°N 0.929315°W/51.596490; -0.929315
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For other places and people named Stonor, seeStonor (disambiguation).

Stonor Park
View of Stonor House from the south
LocationStonor,about 4 miles (6.4 km) north ofHenley-on-ThamesinOxfordshire,England
Coordinates51°35′47″N0°55′46″W/ 51.596490°N 0.929315°W/51.596490; -0.929315
Built13th century onwards
Stonor Park is located in Oxfordshire
Stonor Park
Location of Stonor Park in Oxfordshire

Stonor Parkis a historiccountry houseand private deer park situated in a valley in theChiltern HillsatStonor,about four miles (6.4 km) north ofHenley-on-ThamesinOxfordshire,England, close to the county boundary withBuckinghamshire.

The house has a 12th-century private chapel. The remains of a prehistoric stone circle are in the grounds. It is the ancestral home and seat of the Stonor family,Baron Camoys.The current Lord Camoys isWilliam Stonor.

Setting

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The house nestles in theChiltern Hills.Behind the main house, there is awalled gardenin anItalianatestyle on a rising slope, providing good views. Around the house is a park with a herd offallow deer.Around the park are Almshill Wood, Balham's Wood and Kildridge Wood. The house and garden are open to the public.

History

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Stonor House from the Deer Park (stone circle visible on the right)
Stonor Deer Park

Stonor House has been the home of the Stonor family for more than eight centuries. In the house are displays of family portraits, tapestries, bronzes and ceramics. The house has a 12th-century private chapel built of flint and stone, with an early brick tower.

The house was probably begun after 1280, when Sir Richard Stonor (1250–1314) married his second wife, Margaret Harnhull.[1]

During and after theEnglish Reformationthe Stonor family and many other local gentry wererecusants.In 1581, theJesuitpriestsEdmund CampionandRobert Parsonslived and worked at Stonor Park, and Campion'sDecem Rationeswas printed here on a secret press. On 4 August 1581, a raid on the house found the press. Campion and Parsons had left a few days earlier, but the elderly Lady Cecily Stonor, her son John, the Jesuit priestWilliam Hartley,the printers and four servants were taken prisoner, and in 1585, Hartley was exiled.[2]Despite further prosecutions and fines the Stonors remained Roman Catholic throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and enabled many local villagers to remain Roman Catholic by allowing them to attendMassat their private chapel. Between 1716 and 1756,John Talbot Stonor,Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District,used Stonor Park as his headquarters.[2]

The Stonor family's steadfast adherence toRoman Catholicismthroughout the reformation led to their marginalisation and relative impoverishment in subsequent centuries. This has inadvertently resulted in the preservation of the house in a relative unspoiled and unimproved state.[1]

Stone circle

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The house was built on the site of a prehistoric stone circle or henge and this has given it its name. The remains of the circle are still visible with one stone incorporated into the south-east corner of the chapel. The stones are a mixture ofsarsensandpuddingstone.[3]The current stone positions are the result of re-positioning during 17th-century landscaping and 20th-century reconstruction.[4]The site is listed as afollyin the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) (PRN 2064)).[5]

Media appearances

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Stonor has been used as afilming locationincludingThe Pumaman(1980),The Living Daylights(1987),Danny, the Champion of the World(1989),[6]the final episode ofOne Foot in the Grave(2000),Endeavour(2019),A Christmas Carol(2019), andAntiques Roadshow(2020).[7]

Bibliography

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  • Lobel, Mary D. (1964).A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 8: Lewknor and Pyrton Hundreds.pp. 98–115.
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus;Sherwood, Jennifer (1974).The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire.Harmondsworth: Penguin. pp. 791–794.ISBN0-14-071045-0.

References

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  1. ^abEmery, Anthony (2006).Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500: Southern England.Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. pp. 170 note 8.ISBN9781139449199.
  2. ^abLobel, 1964, pages 98–115.
  3. ^Stonor stone circleArchived2012-06-16 at theWayback MachineStonor estate website. Accessed April 2012.
  4. ^Country Lifearticle, May 7, 1981
  5. ^Stonor Park Stone Circle filed otesCounty Sites and Monuments Record Officer, Central Library, Westgate, Oxford OX1 1DJ. Accessed April 2012.
  6. ^Danny, the Champion of the World
  7. ^"Stonor Park 1, Antiques Roadshow, Series 43".bbc.co.uk.7 March 2021.Retrieved18 March2021.
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