Brightwell Manor

Brightwell Manor is a country house in the village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell in Oxfordshire, England.[1] The back dates to around the mid-seventeenth century, or possibly earlier as there is a date of 1605 on the rear. The front was built in the mid-eighteenth century.[2] It has been a Grade II listed building since 1952. It is owned by the former British prime minister Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie Johnson.[3][4]

History

In 1933, the house was purchased by William Ralph Inge, a theologian who was nominated on three occasions for the Nobel Prize in Literature.[1][5] Inge served as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral for over twenty years from 1911 to 1934, becoming well known as the ’’Gloomy Dean’’ on account of his pessimistic views, which included supporting eugenics and opposing democracy.[6][7] His wife wrote in her diary "It is a most attractive house but rather small." and that she had written to Paul Edward Paget and his business partner John Seely (later John Seely, 2nd Baron Mottistone) about adding to it.[8] They wanted £2,000, and she wrote that "We really must try to cut them down a bit."[8] Dean Inge died there in 1954 (and is buried next door in the churchyard), and the family owned the house until 1971, when his sons sold it.[1] Johnson purchased it in February 2023 for a reported sum of £4 million.[1][9]

In 1952, Brightwell Manor was Grade II listed by English Heritage.[10] Most of the house probably dates back to the mid-17th century, and the front is mid-18th century.[10] An extension was added by Inge in the 1950s.[9] Pevsner Architectural Guides describes the house as a "plain late 18th century [sic] brick box", but notes the dating of 1605 on the earliest, rear portion of the house.[11][a] Brightwell Manor has nine bedrooms and is 8,128 square feet (755 m2) in total.[1][9] The house sits in five acres (2.0 ha) of grounds, with a moat fed by a natural spring surrounding it on three sides.[9] The study includes a mural painted by the neo-Romanticist George Warner Allen.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Pevsner covers Brightwell-cum-Sotwell in the Berkshire volume of the Buildings of England series, [11], since the area was only transferred to Oxfordshire at the division of the historic counties of England in the 1970s

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Neate, Rupert (17 February 2023). "Boris Johnson 'agrees to buy' £4m nine-bed Georgian manor house (with moat)". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Brightwell Manor: A Grade II Listed Building in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire". BritishListedBuildings.co.uk.
  3. ^ "Boris and Carrie Johnson move into new £3.8m moated mansion in Oxfordshire – see inside". House & Garden. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  4. ^ Low, Joseph (27 March 2023). "Boris Johnson Is the New Owner of a 400-Year-Old Manor". LUXUO. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Dr. Inge buys a house:' Gloomy Dean' Acquires Brightwell Manor Dating From 1603". New York Times. 15 October 1933. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  6. ^ Grimley, Matthew (3 January 2008). "Inge, William Ralph". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34098. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. ^ Dekel-Daks, Tal (17 May 2023). "Boris and Carrie Johnson move into £3.8m moated mansion in Oxfordshire". House & Garden. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b Fox, Adam (1960). Dean Inge. J. Murray. pp. 236–237.
  9. ^ a b c d e Churchill, Penny (7 November 2019). "An Oxfordshire country house so beautiful that one famous visitor whipped out his cheque book and tried to buy it on the spot". Country Life. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  10. ^ a b Historic England. "Brightwell Manor (Grade II) (1368887)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  11. ^ a b Tyack, Geoffrey; Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2010). Berkshire. Pevsner Architectural Guides: The Buildings of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-300-12662-4.

51°36′45″N 1°10′00″W / 51.6126°N 1.1666°W / 51.6126; -1.1666

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