Beckett Hall
Beckett Hall (or Beckett House) is a
). The present house dates from 1831.History
This manor is first mentioned in the
The King holds Scrivenham in the demesne [domain] that King Edward held it. There are 46 hides. There is land for 33 ploughs. On the demesne there are 4 ploughs and there 80 villeins and 17 borderers with 30 ploughs...In the Manor are two mills worth twenty shillings, and 240 acres (0.97 km2) of meadow and woodland to render 20 swine. In the time of King Edward it was worth 35 pounds, and afterwards 20, not 45 pounds.[3]
The property was held by William, the Count of
In 1633, the Manor was bought by
In 1666,
House
The present house was built in 1830–1831 for the 6th Viscount Barrington and is near the site of an earlier large manor house which was partly burnt down during the Civil War.[6][7] The first designs were by the architect William Atkinson, but were redrawn by Thomas Lidell, brother of the Viscountess. It has two storeys and attics, and is in Elizabethan revival style with mullioned windows, gabled roofs and tall chimney-stacks. The east (entrance) front and the south front have five bays, in the latter case with the two outer bays projected forward. The entrance is flanked by full-height octagonal buttresses, capped by stone cupolas. Inside are decorative plaster ceilings and fine marble fireplace surrounds, several of them from the 18th century and perhaps from the previous house.[8] To the north are a two-storey servants' block and modern additions.
Military use
In 1936, following the death the previous year of Charlotte, widow of the 9th Viscount Barrington, the hall and estate were bought by the War Office for use as an artillery training school.[9] From 1939 it was the home of 133 Officer Cadet Training Unit,[10] and in 1945–6 the American University for US military personnel.[citation needed]
In 1946, the estate became home to the
Designations
The house is a
Notable residents
Notable residents include:
- Henry Marten – politician, regicide and resident of Beckett Hall
- John Wildman – politician and republican agitator
- John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington– statesman and 1st Viscount Barrington, resident of Beckett Hall
- William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington – politician, eldest son of John Shute Barrington
- Samuel Barrington – Admiral, fourth son of John Shute Barrington
- Shute Barrington – Bishop of Llandaff, of Salisbury and of Durham; younger son of John Shute Barrington
- Robert Whitehead – engineer, designer of the self-propelled torpedo; rented Beckett Hall in his last years and died there in 1905[12]
Legacy
The estate and the Barrington family who lived there were the inspirations for the naming of Becket, Massachusetts and Great Barrington, Massachusetts.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Shrivenham in the Domesday Book
- ISBN 1-85306-090-9.
- ^ Berkshire, Domesday Survey series, Phillimore publishing, Sussex, 1983.
- ^ Taylor, Amanda (2006)"Henry 'Harry, the Regicide' Colonel MARTEN". Family History Articles. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008.
- ^ Pearl, Dan, ed. (Fall 2003). "Searching for Mr. Becket" (PDF). The NEFFA News. 29 (3). the New England Folk Festival Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ "The Old Beckett House". Shrivenham Heritage Society. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ Page, William; Ditchfield, P. H., eds. (1924). "Parishes: Shrivenham". A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 531–543. Retrieved 19 June 2022 – via British History Online.
- ^ a b Historic England (21 July 1982). "Royal Military College of Science, Beckett Hall, Faringdon Road (north side) Shrivenham, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire (1183028)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
- ^ Maw, Neil B.; Moss, Vivien (June 2020). "Beckett and the Barringtons" (PDF). Shrivenham Heritage Society. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-4738-9562-1. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ Historic England (6 November 2007). "China House to west of Beckett Hall, Faringdon Road, Shrivenham, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire (1048793)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
- ^ Moss, Vivien (March 2020). "Robert Whitehead" (PDF). Shirvenham Heritage Society. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
Further reading
- Nash Ford, David (2010). "Royal Berkshire History: Beckett House". Nash Ford Publishing.
- "Old and new Beckett House" – Shrivenham Heritage Society
- "Hostesses at Home: The Viscountess Barrington at Beckett" – detailed description of the house in The Onlooker, 15 October 1910 (via Shrivenham Heritage Society)