Greys Court, Dower House is a Grade I listed building in the South Oxfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 October 1951. A Medieval House.
Greys Court, Dower House
- WRENN ID
- errant-panel-onyx
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- South Oxfordshire
- Constituency
- Henley and Thame MP: Freddie van Mierlo (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 October 1951
- Type
- House
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Greys Court, Dower House, Rotherfield Greys
- OS grid reference
- SU 725 833
- Coordinates
- 51.54469, -0.95525
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Greys Court, also known as Dower House, is a historic building that was formerly referred to as Batchelors Hall. It features a 14th-century tower with a 16th-century house attached, along with later alterations. The tower is constructed of flint with stone dressings, while the house is made of red brick, topped with a plain old tile roof and brick stacks.
The structure includes an octagonal tower on the right and a rectangular-plan house on the left. The house is two stories high with a two-window range, while the tower rises to three stories. There are slit windows on each side of the tower at the ground and first floors, and a single light window on each side of the second floor. The tower is topped with a crenellated parapet and an octagonal pyramidal roof.
The house features a central 20th-century sash door with a stone surround and a label mould with dropped ends. All openings have three-light casements with stone surrounds that also have label moulds with dropped ends. A large brick stack is located at the junction of the house and the tower. The rear of the building has irregular fenestration and four cross gables on the roof.
Although the interior has not been inspected, there is a motto over the entrance door that reads: "Melius nil coelibe vita" (Nothing is better than the celibate life). Historically, a licence to crenellate was granted to Sir John de Grey in 1347.
Local climate
Greys Court, Dower House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 80% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 53% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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