Bletchingdon Park

Bletchingdon Park is a country house, now used as a college, built in 1782 by James Lewis for Arthur Arnesley, Earl of Anglesey. It is constructed of limestone ashlar, with a rusticated basement, a Welsh slate mansard roof, and moulded stone ashlar stacks. The house is of a mid-Georgian style and follows a central-staircase plan.

The principal facade is two stories above a rusticated basement and has a five-bay arrangement, with a pedimented centre creating a 1:3:1 fenestration. A semi-circular flight of steps leads to a full-height pedimented portico featuring Corinthian columns and wrought-iron railings. The main entrance consists of a double-leaf door set within a pedimented moulded stone architrave. Plate-glass sashes with moulded stone architraves and cornices flank the door, while mid-19th century horned sashes with glazing bars are found in the other ground-floor windows. The outer bays of the ground floor feature similar sashes set in semi-circular arched recesses, with scrolled wrought-iron balustrades to bracketed balconies. A dentilled moulded cornice is topped by a plain parapet pierced by balustrades.

The side walls have a three-window range each. They feature sashes with fluted pilasters set in segmental-arched recesses, with scrolled wrought-iron balustrades to bracketed balconies on the right side, and similar fenestration to the left, with two semi-circular arches with blocked voussoirs below the balcony. The rear elevation includes a double-flight of steps leading to an inset portico with two Ionic columns in antis, and a tradesman's entry in the basement flanked by two-light stone mullioned windows with ovolo moulding, featuring paterae to the cornices of the doors in the portico.

Internally, the hall has a stone-flagged floor, a marble fireplace with putti in the frieze, and a roundel above with Olympian plasterwork. A decorative dentilled cornice runs along the hall, and similar cornices appear over the architraves of the panelled doors. One room to the left contains a fine Adam-style fireplace with urns. The centre-left room boasts similar fireplaces with putti, panelled walls with vine trails, a frieze with scrolled leaf decoration and laurel wreaths, and fine Adam-style plasterwork to the ceiling, including garlands and fans, with moulded cornices and paterae over the doors. A similar Adam-style decorated room is present to the rear left. The central stair-hall contains a half-turn staircase with landings, a 20th-century scrolled wrought-iron balustrade, and fine 20th-century Adam-style plasterwork. A room to the right has panelled walls with reeded architraves, a Corinthian screen, and a late 18th-century fireplace grate. The first floor has moulded plaster cornices and late 18th-century fireplaces with decorative friezes and cast-iron fire grates. The attic has panelled doors and moulded architraves to the fireplace, and a glazed umbrella dome to light the stairs. The cellar features a kitchen fireplace dated 1786.