Beckley Park

Hunting lodge, now substantial house, built circa 1540, probably for Lord Williams of Thame. The building is constructed of dark-red brick diapered with black flared headers, with limestone ashlar dressings and rubble plinth. It has an old plain-tile roof and brick stacks.

The house follows a 4-unit through-passage plan and is 2 storeys plus attics. The symmetrical 5-window front elevation features a moulded plinth and plaster eaves cove. The four outer bays have 2-light stone mullioned and transomed windows, all with labels and leaded lights. The centre of the first floor has a 3-light mullioned and transomed window that replaces a former canted bay window, traces of which survive. The mullions are unchamfered and moulded with recessed faces. A central hip-roofed porch with moulded 4-centre arched entrance under a label shelters a chamfered 4-centre arched doorway with an old panelled door. The porch originally extended higher. There is a small triangular window immediately to the right and a stone cartouche just above the porch roof. The main roof has clustered diagonal stacks to the right of centre and on the end gables.

The left gable wall has a large projecting chimney, 2-light hollow-chamfered mullioned and transomed windows, and a 4-centre arched doorway. The right gable has a corbelled stack. The rear has 2-light hollow-chamfered mullioned windows, a large lateral chimney, and 3 full-freight gabled projections, the central tower being wider and featuring a 4-centre arched doorway. All gables have stone parapets with double-corbelled kneelers. Two windows at the rear retain early glazing with lozenge-shaped quarries.

The entrance leads into the former screens passage. The hall to the left has a Tudor-arched fireplace in a moulded rectangular surround and shares a timber-framed internal porch with the parlour to the extreme left, which has a 4-centre arched fireplace and 17th-century panelling up to door-head height. To the right of the passage, a timber-framed partition contains a moulded 4-centre arched buttery doorway. The buttery was enlarged at an early date at the expense of the former kitchen beyond, which contains a large fireplace with two massive stones forming a chamfered 4-centred arch. The stair tower, opening off the rear of the passage, contains a full-height circular newel stair of massive timber baulks with smooth-chamfered soffit and an original trellis balustrade at the head. The outer towers contained garderobe flues. The bedrooms have further stone-arched fireplaces and original joinery, including several pairs of hinged-frame shutters that also survive on some ground-floor windows. These shutters are remarkable both for their rare design and the delicacy of their hinges and latches. The attic floor contains a long room with an arched fireplace and large windowed bays at the top of the garderobe towers. The former hall screen has been recovered but has not been replaced.

The house stands on the triple-moated site of the capital seat of the Honour of St. Valery, formerly held by the Earls of Cornwall and Princes of Wales.