Baldon House Baldon House East Wing Baldon House West Wing

SU5699 MARSH BALDON BALDON LANE (South side) 10/9 Baldon House, Baldon House 18/07/63 E wing and Baldon House W wing (Formerly listed as Baldon House)

GV II

Manor house. C17, probably partly Cl6 re-windowed, early C18, enlarged late C18, wings C19 and early C20. Rendered walls with some limestone dressings and brick; old plain-tile roofs with brick stacks. Irregular U-plan. 2 storeys plus attic. 4-gabled front breaks forward in outer bays and has a 2-storey gabled porch, to right of centre, with a Classical keystone outer arch within a rectangular surround. All gables have stone-coped parapets and obelisk finials. Windows are mostly narrow paired sashes but there is one tripartite sash to left of centre. Gable windows retain C17 stone labels. Roof has C19 dormers. Side wings have sashes and there is a C19 bell turret and clock on the right wing. Late C18 2-storey rear range of main block has central tripartite sashes, beneath recessed arched tympana, flanked by large canted 2-storey bay windows with shuttered sashes to each face. The brickwork was formerly stuccoed. Brick subsidiary wing projecting to right of main block, has a partly-crenellated garden front which includes a canted 2-storey section containing an orangery on the ground floor and with 5 Gothick windows at first-floor. Attached at the extreme right end is a 2-storey stone Gothick tower which incorporates a fine C15 doorhead (a 4-centred arch within a deep rectangular casement moulding with quatrefoils in the spandrels) which was brought from the demolished medieval church at Nuneham Courtenay. Interior: dining room has early C18 mahogany fielded panelling with fluted Doric columns flanking the fireplace and supporting an entablature with a triglyph frieze. The marble fireplace with the Willoughby crest is probably late C18. The entrance hall has Doric columns flanking steps to the late C18 stair hall, which has a cantilevered stair with a cast-iron balustrade and a ramped and wreathed mahogany handrail. A double bow-ended room has a triglyph frieze with ox heads, a contemporary marble fireplace, double-leaf mahogany entrance doors and curved doors in the rear bow. A second drawing room has a canted bay window and a C18 fireplace with eared architrave. The original fireplace has been removed to Woodperry House, Oxon (q.v.). The 2 rooms and stair hall have ornamental wood-block floors, and the decoration is generally in the style of Soane. The eastern bay of the main range has a C17 beam with triple-ovolo mouldings and a recessed soffit, C17 oak panelling, and 2 stone fireplaces with 4-centred arches which may be C16, as may a chamfered 4-centre arched stone doorway. The western extension of the main range includes a mid-C18 pine-panelled room. (V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol. V p.32; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire p.699)

Listing NGR: SU5614299024