Shirburn Castle

Shirburn Castle, now a country house, was originally built in 1377, possibly by Henry Yevele for Warin de Lisle. It was significantly remodelled after 1716 for Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, and his son, and again in the early 19th century. The building is constructed of brick, partly rendered, with a centre of dressed chalk and limestone to the west front. The roof and chimney materials are not documented. The castle retains a quadrangular plan with rounded corner towers. Originally built in the Early Perpendicular style, it was remodelled in a Georgian style and early 19th-century Gothick style. The main west front is three stories high and has a symmetrical seven-window range. A tall, central gate tower is flanked by two-, extended to three-, storey bays; the tall corner turrets feature two windows each. A double-chamfered four-centred doorway provides access via studded double doors. A drawbridge leads to 19th-century steps with flanking cast-iron lamps across the moat. Georgian round-headed openings contain sash windows, and there is a crenellated parapet. Other elevations were also remodelled in the 18th and early 19th centuries, incorporating sash windows and a crenellated parapet. Later additions include an 18th-/early 19th-century extension and a water tower of 1870 attached to the south range. The interior features an early 18th-century staircase with carved and turned balusters. An armoury was remodelled as a vaulted, Gothick-style entrance hall in the early 19th century. Approximately 1830 saw the addition of a drawing room and library to the north, the conversion of an old north library over the hall into a billiard room, and conversion of the old dining room to the east into a large bedroom and dressing room. A smoking room was created within the north-west tower in 1873. Shirburn Castle is notable as the earliest brick building in Oxfordshire. Its plan is comparable to other late 14th-century castles such as Castle Bodiam in Yorkshire (1378) and Bodiam in Sussex (1385). The Chamberlain family held the castle for Charles I before its surrender to Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1646. Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, and later Lord Chancellor, acquired Shirburn Castle in 1716, establishing a library containing two Caxton editions and Isaac Newton's letters. The Parker family helped make Shirburn a noted scientific and literary centre, including the establishment of a pioneering observatory in 1739, which has since been demolished.