Stowell Park

Stowell Park is a country house built around 1600 for Robert Atkinson, Recorder of Oxford, on the site of an earlier house. It was substantially enlarged for the Earl of Eldon by the architect Sir John Belcher between 1886 and 1898, with a ballroom added in 1913.

The building presents a complex plan formed from an L-shaped Elizabethan main body. The north and west fronts of the main body and ballroom are constructed in ashlar, with other walls in limestone rubble. A 17th to early 18th century wing uses coursed roughly squared limestone. The late 19th century apartments and entrance are dressed in random limestone, while a partly converted barn adjoining the ballroom employs coursed squared and dressed limestone. The roof is covered in stone slate with ashlar stacks.

The former entrance front faces west and features a summerhouse attached at the north-west corner; a similar summerhouse, now reduced in size, formerly stood at the south-west corner. A late 19th century extension and the present entrance (designed by Belcher) are located at the south-east corner of the main body. A three-sided courtyard is formed by the left-hand return of the Elizabethan range, with an early 20th century ballroom opposite, linked via a passage. A partly converted barn stands at the far gable end of the ballroom. A possible late 17th to early 18th century extension occupies the gable end of the left-hand return, extended by one bay in the 19th century. Late 19th century additions include a dairy and a further range at right angles to the rear.

The west front (the Elizabethan entrance front) displays two storeys and an attic lit by three roof dormers, largely obscured by a battlemented parapet. The façade is arranged in a 2:3:2 bay pattern, with the outer bays breaking forwards slightly. All windows are stone-mullioned cross windows with double-ridged mouldings and moulded hoods on consoles; those in the west front may have been replaced in the 19th century. The casements contain rectangular leaded panes. At the centre is a 20th century part-glazed double door with a round-headed surround and fanlight. A Renaissance entablature on short Ionic pilasters at impost level frames the Atkinson coat of arms in the tympanum of a pediment. A single storey, single bay summerhouse projects forward to the left, featuring a single stone-mullioned cross window and a double glazed door with leaded panes at the centre of the right-hand return. This doorway is set within a round-headed surround with paired Roman Doric pilasters either side, flanked by tall single rectangular windows with leaded panes and further pilasters.

The north front of the Elizabethan range comprises five bays; the outer bays feature two-storey bay windows with Doric parapets and three ball finials. The cross windows match those of the west front. The ballroom facing the north front is buttressed with side and diagonal buttresses with offsets and large carved scrolls at the height of the battlemented parapet.

The 17th to early 18th century wing is two and a half storeys tall with roof dormers at the rear and a single gable with a two-light casement adjoining the north front of the Elizabethan main body. Two cross-shaped slits are positioned below the gable. The range is otherwise lit by stone-mullioned cross windows and two-light stone-mullioned casements.

A single storey, buttressed late 19th century dairy features a louvred octagonal roof with a finial at the apex. The late 19th century extension and entrance incorporates an octagonal corner turret with cupola and decorative string gargoyles below a battlemented parapet. An open-sided Renaissance style porch with a battlemented parapet featuring semi-circular merlons contains a round-headed arch with paired fluted Roman Doric columns. Within the inner porch is a Gothic vault with carved stone bosses. Single, two and three-light stone-mullioned casements, some with transoms, are used throughout. A continuous hood over the first floor windows incorporates beast's head gargoyles. The parapet is mostly battlemented. Some 17th century lead rainwater heads and downpipes remain on the Elizabethan range. Axial and gable end stacks finish the rooflines.

The interior is not fully accessible, but according to David Verey's Buildings of England: The Cotswolds, the windows of the late 19th century entrance hall contain 19th century armorial stained glass displaying the coats of arms of families connected with the house, including Martell (circa 1100), Tame (1520), Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (circa 1640), and Howe, Lord Chedworth (circa 1722). The inner hall contains a 19th century carved stone fireplace bearing the arms of Howe of Stowell, the Earl of Eldon, and Lord Vestey, added in 1923. In the Elizabethan part of the house, the drawing room is reputed to contain panelling of circa 1600 with an arcaded dado carved with cherubs on the keystones and two tiers of Doric and Ionic pilasters. At least two Tudor-arched stone doorways survive. Most of the interior was substantially altered by Sir John Belcher between 1886 and 1898.