Watlington Park

WATLINGTON SU79SW 3/113 Watlington Park 18/07/63

GV II*

Country House. Built c.1755 for John Tilson. English bond brick; hipped Welsh slate roof; internal brick stacks. Double-depth plan. 2 storeys and attic; 5-window range. Central 3-bay pedimented block, with lunette in tympanum. Stone Doric porch with triglyph frieze; late C19 double-leaf doors. Gauged red brick flat arches over sashes. Ashlar string course; modillioned eaves cornice. 4 roof dormers. Similar rear elevation and right side wall has canted bay. Interior: hall has marble floor and fireplace, and architectural trompe l'oeil decoration by Philip Tilden, 1921. Panelled doors, some set in bolection-moulded architraves. Panelled rooms to left have finely carved mid C18 fireplaces and plaster cornices. Drawing Room to right has fine marble fireplace; modillioned cornice on torus moulding; rococo plasterwork on ceiling wreathed in foliage, with swans in end panels; Ionic columns at both ends of room. Open well staircase with twisted balusters and ramped handrails. First floor has panelled rooms with plaster cornices, similar doors; early C19 marble fireplaces except C18 cast-iron grate to right. Dog-leg service stairs with turned balusters to rear left. Watlington Park was sold to John Tilson, son of the Under-Secretary of State, by the Stonors in 1753. (Christopher Hussey, Watlington Park, Country Life, Vol.CXXV, pp.81-21, 60-63; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.831-2; V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.8, p.213).

Listing NGR: SU7062792550