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Shirburn Castle
Image Geograph © Copyright Colin Bates and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
The church, dating perhaps from the late 11th century, is the oldest building in the village. The castle dates from the 14th century. The manor-house of West Shirburn, which belonged in the 13th century to Robert de Burghfield is likely to have been on its site: it is described as lying off the village street near 'Tonuslane'. (fn. 17) It was certainly not castellated, and the story that it was visited by Brunetto Latini, the tutor of Dante, at the end of the century is a myth. The letter in which he describes his visit has recently been proved a forgery. (fn. 18) At this period there was a second manor-house, that of Henry le Tyeys in East Shirburn. (fn. 19) Judging from a valuation of 1307 it was not a large house: it was said to be worth 6s. 8d.—a little more than some other houses in the village, valued at 3s. 6d. and 4s. (fn. 20) These manor-houses had probably existed from the time of the Conquest at least, and when in the 12th century a grant was made to Oseney Abbey of two parts of the demesne tithes of Shirburn, it was stated that they were de utraque curia de Shereburn. (fn. 21) It is not improbable that the lane shown on the map of 1730, (fn. 22) dividing the castle and the surrounding houses from Mr. Toovey 's house, was the ancient 'Tonus Lane' and marked the boundary between what were once two hamlets, and that Toovey's farmhouse was on the site of East Shirburn manor-house.
West Shirburn manor-house is referred to as late as 1359 in a lease by Peter de Burghfield, Rector of Burghfield church in Berkshire, (fn. 23) but after the two manors had been united and Warin de Lisle was granted licence to build a castle in 1377, (fn. 24) it seems that he built on the site of this house and that East Shirburn manor-house, which had belonged to his ancestors, was allowed to decay. It was described as 'ruinous' in 1417. (fn. 25)
The castle was built mainly of brick, but the centre of the west front was of dressed stone and chalk. There is a record of small repairs being carried out in 1418 and 1419, when Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was lord. The court rolls then record a charge against the farmer of the manor, Bartholomew Collingridge, of the theft of building material including freestone, 'plankstones', and lead. Collingridge declared he had taken the lead to put on the lord's tower to make gutters and do other necessary repairs and he called John Plomer as his witness. The plumber said that he had been ordered to go to Shirburn by Lord Berkeley, then lord of the manor, and had newly covered the tower with lead and made spouts for the gutters. (fn. 26)
The castle, as built in 1377, seems to belong to a recognizable type of quadrangular castle, with four corner towers, that appears in the last quarter of the 14th century; it may be compared with Bodiam in Sussex (1385), Castle Bolton, Yorks. (1378), Wressel, Yorks. (c. 1380), Sheriff Hutton, Yorks. (c. 1382), and Lumley, Co. Durham (c. 1392). Shirburn castle probably consisted of a quadrangle, enclosed by four ranges of buildings, with a round tower at each corner, and a gate tower in the middle of the west side. The living quarters would have been contained in the four ranges round the quadrangle; one might expect the hall to have been on the east side, opposite the gate tower (as at Bodiam and Lumley). Of the original building there survive the gate tower, the west outer wall, the south outer wall (now englobed in later buildings), and probably the southwest and south-east towers; the other two towers may have been rebuilt at the time of the extensive alterations in the 18th century. (fn. 27) Originally there were three drawbridges with a portcullis at the main entrance. (fn. 28) The wide moat, doubly wide on one side, is of running water supplied from springs on the east side of the castle and also in the moat itself. (fn. 29) In the 16th century Leland described the building as a 'strong pile or castlelet'. (fn. 30) Sir Adrian Fortescue was often there after he left Stonor, (fn. 31) and an inventory of his goods at the castle made in February 1539, a few months before his execution, throws some light on the internal arrangement of the rooms at this period. It mentions the wardrobe, the entry, the great chamber at the lower end of the hall, the inner chamber, 'the brusshynge howse', the hall and the chamber over the parlour, and an inner chamber there; there was also a cellar, buttery, chambers each for the butler, priest, horse-keeper, cook, and chamberlains, an additional chamber, a low parlour, a kitchen larder, boulting house, fish-house, garner, brew-house, and other outhouses. (fn. 32)
From the end of the 15th century, when Richard Chamberlain, his wife, and chaplain died there, to the middle of the 17th century the castle was lived in, at least for a part of the year by the Chamberlains, (fn. 33) and they held it for the king during the Civil War. (fn. 34) The importance and size of the building may be judged from the fact that in the 1660's it was among the eleven houses in the county for which 30 hearths or more were returned for the hearth tax of 1665. (fn. 35) Only the Earl of Lindsey at Rycote, the Earl of Downe at Wroxton, the Earl of Clarendon at Cornbury, Sir Francis Lee at Ditchley, Sir John Lenthall at Burford Priory, and William Knollys of Rotherfield Grey returned more than Shirburn's 32 hearths. (fn. 36) Michael Burghers depicts the castle on his map of the county and the coat of arms of Lord Abergavenny, then lord of the manor, heads the 143 shields drawn in the border. (fn. 37)
When Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, and soon to become Lord Chancellor, bought the castle in 1716 he made considerable alterations both to the buildings and the park. (fn. 38) A manuscript note made by him says that he spent £7,000 on the house. (fn. 39) As he bought a large library of books (fn. 40) it is likely that he was responsible for the two famous library-rooms and the main 18th-century alterations. These included the rebuilding of the south and east ranges, the construction of the fine staircase in the northeast corner, and the remodelling of the north and west ranges. The present south range may represent the medieval south range, with new windows inserted and with another range of rooms added to the south, outside the original outer wall. (fn. 41) The west range, containing the gate tower and the old kitchen, was left comparatively unaltered, except for new windows and the addition of a third story, thus raising this range to the height of the others and dwarfing the gate tower. The north range, when Brewer described it in 1819, contained the 'capacious' north library over the armoury and also on the ground floor were marble baths, both warm and cold, 'a luxury that too tardily creeps on the notice of this country'. (fn. 42) The armoury was the present entrance hall which had probably been comparatively recently remodelled in the 'Gothic' taste and was shortly to be illustrated in Skelton's Antiquities of Oxfordshire. (fn. 43)
SHIRBURN CASTLE and VILLAGE in 1736
The above map is a simplification of part of an estate map by William Burgess.
In 1830 a fairly extensive modernization was undertaken—a drawing-room and library over it were added on the north side; the old north library over the hall was converted into a billiard room; the former drawing-room which had been over the dining-room on the east side was converted into a larger bedroom and a dressing-room; and the baths on the ground floor on the north side were removed. In 1870 the red-brick water tower adjoining the laundry was built and in 1873 the warder's room in the north-west tower and the low entresol above it were thrown into one to make a smoking-room.
The changes made during the 18th and 19th centuries in the surrounding grounds were equally spectacular. A map of about 1718 shows the castle and moat with a bowling-green and garden on the south-west side covering 5 acres. The church and home farm also lay to the south-west, and to the north was the kitchen garden. (fn. 44) The Great and Little Closes, Forty Acres, and Mill Furlong, lying north and south of the castle were at this date arable closes. (fn. 45)William Burgess's map of 1736 presents quite a different picture. (fn. 46) The first earl made many exchanges of land, mainly with the Tooveys, so as to be able to enlarge his pleasure grounds and divert the old public road. (fn. 47) In 1720 he made the large ornamental water, called Upper Duckery, and by 1722 Homefield (30 a.) and Mill Furlong (50 a.) had been laid down to grass and avenues of Dutch elms planted in Mill Furlong. The nursery was planted a few years later, (fn. 48) The Long Pond was made out of the one-time millpond: this marshy ground was purchased from Mr. Samuel Toovey on condition that the new 'pond' should not injure in any way Toovey's property. (fn. 49) The map of 1736 shows a formal garden to the north of the castle, and on the east a path running from the castle to a circular lake and temple. Two designs for a garden temple bearing the Macclesfield arms are in the Avery Library of Columbia University, U.S.A. They are attributed to the architect, John Sanderson (d. 1783?). The existing circular temple appears, however, to have been designed by Westby Gill of the Office of Works, for 'Mr. Gill' is referred to as the architect in letters from the London mason, Andrews Jelfe, relating to the supply of Portland stone for its construction in 1741. (fn. 50)
In 1739 the astronomer earl with the help of James Bradley built the observatory; (fn. 51)twenty years later the first part of the walled garden was made, the home farm was moved and in 1770 the churchyard was transferred from the north side of the church to the south side. (fn. 52)
Between 1780 and 1807 further improvements were made. Davis's map of 1790 shows the Dutch Elm Walk, the Terrace Walk, and the Clare Walk to the north and north-west of the castle; there was a new flower garden and Lower Duckery had been made. (fn. 53) From a map of 1807 a new orchard laid out to the north of the castle can be seen; the gardens to the south-west have been enlarged and now include a melon ground, and the ponds to the west of the castle have also been enlarged. (fn. 54) In these improvements a Mr. Ryston was the earl's adviser. (fn. 55) By 1819 the park was said to cover roughly 60 acres: it was not admired by Brewer in his guide who considered it 'too flat to afford much interest'. (fn. 56) Lord Torrington, writing earlier, in 1785, was even more critical of the park and also of the house. He found the castle 'melancholy and tasteless' in appearance and the place 'very ugly' and 'in very ugly country'. (fn. 57) But he was not in a position to give an unprejudiced view, for he had twice been refused admission, the second time after a 'tedious sultry ride of 16 miles'. Another contemporary view was that it was 'sublime' and left an 'irresistible impression on the soul of taste and sentiment'. (fn. 58) A conservatory of freestone and cast iron, and a pavilion for flowers were constructed early in the 19th century, (fn. 59) perhaps in anticipation of the royal visit in 1808 of the queen and princesses. The fine wall separating the park from the Lewknor road is mainly built of chalk and brick and is largely late-18th-century or early-19thcentury work.
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