I was very lucky to have spent a lot of my summers during the 80s in a little town called Middleton Stoney, staying with my Great-grandmother at Middleton Park. I was always fascinated by the imposing building and vast flat woodlands. I never questioned who had designed it nor in fact why my Great-grandmother lived there.
It was only later that I became interested in the building and who had originally lived there, was this building was there, why is it now apartments… only to find out that it had an interestingly long history ending in 1974 when it was converted to apartments and leased out.
The story dates back in 1201 when Gerard de Camville emparked Home Wood at Middleton Stoney, which, in 1328 was surrounded by a stone wall 3 kilometres in circuit. By 1710 a new house had been built to replace the old manor house close to the village. In 1737 the estate was sold to William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey, in whose family it remained until 1946. The 3rd Earl built a replacement house in the later 1750s. Sanderson Miller designed two buildings for Lord Jersey in 1749, one of which could have been the Gothic gate lodge. The 18th-century house was demolished in 1934, replaced in 1938 by a house on the same site, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and his son Robert Lutyens for the 9th Earl of Jersey. (source)
Above image is the property of Country Life images ©
Middleton Park, Oxfordshire was built for the Earl of Jersey. It was a spectacular swan-song for Lutyens’s love affair with neo-Georgian country houses. Barely complete by the outbreak of the Second World War, it was scarcely lived in as intended. The principal bedrooms had en-suite dressing and bathrooms, while the servants were accommodated in a cluster of lodges flanking the north forecourt approach. Much of the detailing remains intact, although Lady Jersey’s luxurious bathroom, with its neo-Art Deco pink and white marble decor has become a sitting-room.
I remember being scared of the dimly lit, staircase to the basement, with it’s deep-red velvet rope handrail which led to a dark room full of chest freezers and storage boxes.
The grounds are generous. We had access to a small swimming pool throughout the summer, tennis courts, a large woodland and the vast flat gardens. I look back now and realise how incredibly lucky I was to have spent so much time there and seeing photos brings back so many fantastic memories of climbing trees and playing in the woods.
Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens was the tenth child and ninth boy in a family of thirteen, of Charles and Mary Lutyens of of Onslow Square, London, and Thursley in Surrey. The results of our research have shown that those who lead a regular sexual life are recommended to buy and take Cialis in the course of 5 mg per day. For those who plan a one-time meeting, 1 pill before sexual intercourse is sufficient. The maximum daily dose is 20 mg. The obvious advantage of Cialis is its natural manifestation which requires sexual stimulation. It can be combined with alcohol.
Edwin, always called Ned, was so delicate as the result of rheumatic fever as a child that he was the only one of the boys not to go to public school or university. This brought him very close to his mother whom he worshipped. He shared his sisters’ governess and received some extra schooling in the holidays from a much older brother. (source)
Described by many as the ‘the greatest British architect’ Lutyens built over 35 country homes and countless other buildings. He ended his days at 13 Mansfield Street in Marylebone only a few roads from where I currently live. I visited the house to see the famous blue plaque and where the man, who created a building that has been so central to my youth, lived.
Timeline:
1201 Gerard de Camville created Home Wood
1710 New house built to replace old manor house
1737 Early of Jersey purchases estate
1749 Two buildings erected
1750s New house built
1934 House demolished
1938 Edwin Lutyens builds current house
1944 Edwin Lutyens dies at 13 Mansfield Street, London
1946 House sold by Earl of Jersey to unknown purchaser
1971 Robert Lutyens dies
1974 House converted into flats
(source)
Wonderfully informative blog post >> Edwin Lutyens and Middleton Park http://t.co/XxBZh68 via @ateliertally
I spent my summers as a child in an Edwin Lutyens house. Read about the building at http://t.co/uR7bVDW
My parents lived at Middleton Park in the 1980’s. It’s just really a great house!
What a smart way to manage a beautiful stately home and property!
Are you aware of the Roman ruins that are close to the church? They were excavated and I was pleased to come across the report when I was last at my family home in New York.
I always thought that it was a very interesting group of people who lived at Middleton Park.
I remember going to Percy’s for sherry after the village bell ringing troupe came to the house to perform around Christmas time.
Mollie
It was during the 1980s that I spent time there. We probably even saw each other a few times.
I hadn’t heard about the Roman ruins, I will look that up.
My brother remembers a lot more than I do, but I always remember the sound of the Church bells ringing, and also sledging down the little hill near the Church.
According to Robert Lutyens’ second wife, Joan, RL drew up plans for the lodges and showed them to Lord Jersey. Jersey said that the lodges were much too big, so the distressed Robert took the drawings back to his father who said”redraw them half size. Robert did this, showed the new drawings to Lord Jersey, who said “much better” and accepted them.
Hello,
I am doing a project on great houses in Oxfordshire. Do you know who owns the park? It is impossible to find the information!
Thanks
Lauren
Hi Mollie, are you talking about Percy Middleton? I am trying to track down some of his family. If so would you mind letting me know. thank you .
My name is Suzanne and my mother was a family friend
Yes I am talking about Percy Middleton but alas I don’t know where he is. Sorry.
Middleton Park was used in WW2 as a convalescent hospital for officers and nurses. My dad was there for a time. We have a postcard sent by him to his mum of Middleton park.
Norman Franklin/ For what it’s worth Joan was Robert Lutyens’s third wife, not his second. In between Eva Lubrzynska (in 1920), and Joan May (in 1959), in 1953 in London he married (and seems to have lived with for some years before) a “crafty and manipulative” American woman he met in New York, Phyllis Warburg nee Baldwin – he was her third husband. Though the precise chronology is confusing (and they may have been married before in NY), in June 1953 they sailed back to the States together, apparently intending to settle there permanently, but things don’t appear to have worked out well – perhaps unsurprising as she was bipolar and suicidal, and he was an alcoholic (in due course it killed him). In May 1954 Robert flew back to London, and stayed in England thereafter.
One other important historical detail is that cricket has been played here since 1801. Middleton Stoney Cricket Club play on Sunday throughout the summer and welcome supporters. http://www.middletonstoneycc.co.uk
I believe the 1946 sale may have been to a Col. Wall, of the sausages/ice cream family. He lived there till his death in about 1953. After that it was a residential college for one of the banks which merged to form Natwest. As the other one had a similar place nearby, it was sold again, and became briefly a health spa before the conversion to apartments. The above is from memory, so please verify all facts before relying on them in any way.
Does anyone know whether there are any vertical sundials either on Middleton Park itself, or any of the lodges? My husband has restored a sundial on a later Robert Lutyens house, and I am trying to research sundials he may have designed or been interested in before that.
I did some digging and found an article about the history of Middleton and the owners
http://www.lutyenstrust.org.uk/portfolio-item/visit-to-campion-hall-and-middleton-park/
I believe there is only a standing stone sundial on the croquet lawn
My Mother was evacuated to the house during the war. Sadly she died last year but I’ve just found a letter sent from Middleton Park to her Aunt thanking her for a gift. She always talked fondly of the place and the kitchen garden as well as doing an impression of Lady Jersey. I believe there were soldiers there at the same time as the evacuees. I wish I’d found this blog before so I could have shown her.
We live in one of the lodges at Middleton Park and are gathering anecdotes about the people who have lived here over the last century and any memories that people might have. We would be very grateful for any stories you have. By the way, did you know that the entire estate is currently on the market with Savill’s?
Oh wow! I just went to look at the Savills site and saw it. £15m!
I spent a lot of my childhood there. And my great grandparents and grandmother are buried in the church graveyard, so sometimes come by.
It’s such a special place.