Weston Manor Hotel

Details

SP5318 WESTON ON THE GREEN OXFORD R0AD (West side)

18/167 Weston Manor Hotel 07/12/66

GV II*

Manor house, now hotel. Late medieval for the baliffs of Osney Abbey; remodelled mid C16 for Lord Williams of Thame; re-fronted and partly rebuilt c.1820 for the Bertie family. Random and coursed squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; Stonesfield-slate roofs with brick stacks. Courtyard plan. 7-window entrance front has 3-storey outer towers, gabled on all 4 sides, the left tower retaining much early random masonry. Linking 2-storey section has a central projecting 3-storey porch tower with a 4-centre arched entrance below a decorative stucco panel. Stone-mullioned windows have labels and tall 4-centre arched lights with sashes. Roofs have crenellated parapets and there is a short stone spire over the porch. A short subsidiary range projects to right. Left end returns to a contemporary 3-storey range with similar mullioned windows plus a large canted 2-storey bay window. Beyond it, forming the rest of the south range, the lower C16 hall has a projecting octagonal stair turret rising above the roof, with a moulded parapet and a 4-centre arched doorway with roses in the spandrels; to right are 2 tiers of renewed mullioned windows with arched lights, plus a corbelled first-flooor link from the turret; to left are 2 tall renewed mullioned and transomed windows. The gable wall of the hall has 2 original 4-light hollow-chamfered mullioned windows, the upper with a label. To left is one of 2 projections on the west front, a very narrow 2-storey wing of several builds and uncertain function; it has battered walls, first-floor cross loops on both sides, and has a C17 ovolo-moulded 2-light mullioned window in its gable wall. The wider 2-storey projecting wing at the northern end of the west front has a renewed 4-light mullioned window in its gable wall and leaded casements in its side walls; the 2-storey main range has transomed leaded casements of one, 2 and 7 lights, all below segmental arches. The north range is probably mostly medieval and has irregular casements with stop-chamfered lintels and an ancient doorway; a projecting section linking with the front range is probably largely rebuilt but rises above an early vaulted undercroft. The numerous chimneys all have diagonally-set brick shafts. The courtyard walls are decorated with 7 reset stone cartouches and a fine arched early-C17 doorway from Exeter College Chapel, Oxford, with carved foliage in the spandrels, moulded framing and panels decorated with nailhead and 2 cartouches. Interior: C19 entrance hall has a heavy offered ceiling; with moulded and carved ribs, and has a wide Tudor-arched fireplace which may be C16/C17; restored hooded medieval fireplace in reception area; former drawing room has altered bolection-mould panelling, an acanthus cornice and an introduced fireplace; former dining room, now the bar, is also panelled, with an acanthus cornice, and has a C18 fireplace; a dining room in the west range has a Tudor-arched fireplace with strapwork cresting; early-C18 cantilevered stone dogleg stair, dividing near the top into 2 flights, has unusual heavy turned baluster with acanthus carving and has urn finials to the newels, The old hall has a 5-bay arch-braced collar-truss roof with 2 rows of curved windbraces rising to molded purlins, and has moulded wallplates and moulded braces resting on C19 carved corbels; some original painted decoration survives; the deep gallery has moulded joists and a richly-carved deep frieze with roundels containing Romayne medallions and the initials "RR"; the fine early-C16 linenfold panelling carries a narrow pierced frieze of high-quality workmanship containing vine scrolls, a Latin inscription and roundels; the fireplace is a C20 insertion. The panelling and roof are both from Notley Abbey, Buckinqhamshire; introduced c.1780 and 1851, and the frieze of the panelling bears the name of the last Abbott, Richard Rydge. It is possible that the original hall was in the southern half of the west range and that the "old hall" was in fact created from a 2-storey chamber range. (V.C.H.: 0xfordshire, Vol.VI, p.347; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.833-4; A. Carr, "Weston Manor, 0xfordshire", Country Life, 25th August 1928, pp.268-74).

Listing NGR: SP5337418450

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

408524

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1959), 347
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 833-4
Country Life in Country Life, (1928), 268-74
Country Life in 25 August, (1928), 268-74

End of official list entry