Broughton Castle

Coordinates: 52°02′26″N 1°23′31″W / 52.04063°N 1.39199°W / 52.04063; -1.39199
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Broughton Castle
OS grid reference
SP4180938173
Built
  • 1306
  • Crenellated 1406
  • Rebuilt 1550
OwnerPrivate
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBroughton Castle and attached walls
Designated8 December 1955
Reference no.1248742
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
Official nameBroughton Castle
Designated1 June 1984
Reference no.1001088
Broughton Castle is located in Oxfordshire
Broughton Castle
Location of Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire

Broughton Castle is a medieval fortified

Grade I listed building,[1]
it opens to the public during the summer.

History

Romano-British period

In 2021,

metal detectorist
and amateur archaeologist, Keith Westcott. Previously, a lead-lined sarcophagus containing the burial of a wealthy Romano-British woman was discovered and partly investigated in the 1960s.

Geophysical surveys indicated a large winged or courtyard villa rustica comparable with that nearby at North Leigh. Limited excavations by Time Team showed at least two wings existed. The villa was occupied and developed from the 1st to the 4th c. AD. Large adjoining terraced ponds were used to manage water flows.

Found material, including mosaic tesserae and hypocaust flue tiles, as well as the sarcophagus, suggested a villa of high status on this site.[2]

14th century to present

The castle was built as a manor house by Sir John de Broughton in 1300 at a location where the confluence of three streams created a natural site for a

James I
stayed at Broughton Castle on several occasions.

In the 17th century,

English Restoration
.

Broughton fell into decay in the 19th century, but was eventually rescued by

Edward VII at the castle. It was the childhood home of Ivy Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland
.

It is still the home of the Fiennes family.

Main rooms

The main facade
The gatehouse
Formal garden

The gatehouse is from 1406, and the block to its left, now the shop and cafe, has Gothic windows facing the moat. The main facade is medieval to the left, but in Elizabethan prodigy house style at the centre and right. The chapel is 14th-century Decorated Gothic, the other main rooms that are opened mainly Elizabethan. The great hall runs along the facade. Upstairs there is a long gallery overlooking the gardens at the rear.[6] The building also had a Solar, but this was later converted into a kitchen wing.[7]

The best bedrooms have two very elaborate chimneypieces, in the Queen's Bedroom (used by Anne of Denmark) a stone one heavily decorated with ornament in a style "proclaiming the Renaissance but simultaneously revealing a still very imperfect comprehension of what it was all about". This was presumably the result of a local carver with access to an ornament pattern book such as those by Hans Vredeman de Vries; the two human heads still look distinctly medieval. The other chimneypiece, in the bedroom James I used, is at another stylistic extreme; a very polished and spacious stucco piece in a style comparable to that of the First School of Fontainebleau, and probably not made by English artists. The central medallion, with a mythological scene, is designed by Rosso Fiorentino, and also appears in the Palace of Fontainebleau. This is flanked by two large nude boys. The Italian artists of the Tudor court Henry VIII used at Nonsuch Palace have been suggested; the pieces were almost certainly made elsewhere and taken to Broughton.[8]

There are several fine plasterwork ceilings, the most spectacular in the Great Parlour on the first floor, and the Oak Room below it. There is 18th-century painted Chinese wallpaper of different tree, bird and flower designs in three bedrooms, in very good condition. At roof level there is a room believed to be that "with no ears", where the 1st viscount plotted with Parliamentary leaders in the years before the Civil War.[9] The gardens have long herbaceous borders, at their best in summer.

In film and television

Scenes from the films The Slipper and the Rose (1976), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), Oxford Blues (1984), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), The Madness of King George (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Jane Eyre (2011) were shot at the castle. TV filming for parts of Elizabeth The Virgin Queen, Friends and Crocodiles, 1975 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, Keeping Up Appearances, and the titles of Noel's House Party also took place there.[10]

Concerts

In August 1981,

Moat on the Ledge
(1982).

Literature

Published in April 2009, The Music Room is a memoir by William Fiennes, youngest son of the 21st Baron Saye and Sele, about growing up with an older brother who had suffered brain damage due to epilepsy. The book describes their home, Broughton Castle, without ever naming it. It has been described as "a beautiful poem of a tribute to his family, his parents, the magical, moated castle that was his home".[12]

References

  1. ^ "Broughton Castle and attached walls". Historic England. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  2. ^ Bridge, Mark. "Time Team to dig for villa in comeback at Fiennes's castle". The Times. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  3. ISBN 978-0-600-55869-9. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  4. ^ "The Garden". Broughton Castle. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  5. ^ Norwich, 483–484; Jenkins, 597–598; Airs, 144
  6. ^ Andor Gomme, Austin Harvey Gomme, Alison Maguire Design and Plan in the Country House: From Castle Donjons to Palladian Boxes, p. 21, at Google Books
  7. ^ Norwich, 483–484; Jenkins, 597–598
  8. ^ Norwich, 483–484; Jenkins, 597–598
  9. .
  10. .
  11. ^ "Scotland on Sunday: "Here be gargoyles: An interview with William Fiennes"". Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009.

Sources:

External links