Description

GREAT HASELEY LITTLE HASELEY
SP60SW
5/27 Haseley Court
18/07/63

GV 1

Country house. C14/C15 and 1710, extended 1754. Squared coursed limestone and
ashlar dressings; old plain-tile roof. Double-depth plan with rear wing. 3
storeys. The ll-bay front is divided 2:2:3:2:2. Centre and ends break forward
slightly with rusticated quoins, and the heavy cornice rises through the plain
parapet with C20 ball finials to form a triangular pediment over the central
section. Central 6-panel double-leaf door has a moulded stone doorcase with
segmental pediment on consoles, and the sashes (12-pane at ground and first
floors and 6-pane at second) have stone flat arches with projecting keyblocks.
All sashes have heavy glazing bars, and in the 1754 extensions to the 7-bay
front of 1710, some are blind. 3-bay front to right is of 2 storeys with tall
full-length sashes at ground floor and casements above, and is noted as having a
datestone inscribed 1754. Rear is irregular and very plain except for a Venetian
window with stone pilasters, interrupted cornice and central double-stepped
keyblock. The 2-storey rear wing to left is C14/C15 in origin and was further
Gothicised, probably in late C18. Its 3-window front to right is divided by
heavy stepped buttresses and has a crenellated parapet. The 2- and 3-light stone
mullioned windows are probably C15, most being cinqefoiled with round or pointed
heads with recessed spandrels, but some are uncusped and one has ogee lights and
may be C14. To extreme left are cusped single lights and a door in a pointed
chamfered arch. C18 paired blind quatrefoils below the parapet and a crude
triangular pediment over the central first floor window. In the gable wall is an
arched first-floor window of 2 ogee lights under a quatrefoil which looks early
C14 but may be an insertion. Courtyard front to left has a C16/C17 projecting
wing with stepped gable flanked by single-storey infill with 4-centred Gothick
windows, and a massive clustered brick stack at its junction with the rear wing.
To right, the 2-storey end of the main range has an asymmetrically-placed
Gothick bow window with traceried lights under a large round-headed window.
Interior: Central stone-paved hall has plaster panelling and round-arched
openings with egg and dart surrounds; the large stone fireplace of about 1710
has a central mask between festoons, a heavy cornice supported on draped
consoles and a scroll-flanked overmantel with broken pediment and finials. It
has been attributed to William Townesend of Oxford. Dining Room to left has
fielded panelling, fluted pilasters and eared architraves. Small room to rear of
hall is in sumptuous Palladian taste with Venetian window with Ionic columns,
elaborate eared doorcases with triangular pediments and a marble fireplace with
carved wooden surround and side scrolls. Double-height drawing room in 1754
extension to right has deeply-coved ceiling with delicate Adam style plasterwork
and an inlaid marble fireplace. Corresponding to left, the library has eared
architraves curving to a central point and the Gothick bow window has fragments
of C17 painted and stained glass in the tracery lights. Bedrooms have C18
cornices and one has C18 wallpaper. Open-well stair behind hall rises to second
floor and has early CIB heavy turned balusters with 4-baluster newels. Openings
from landings are round arches below oeils de boeuf with heavy egg and dart
moulding. Rear wing has segmental rear arches to windows with concave chamfers,
and a long first-floor room with C20 painted trompe l'oeil ceiling by John
Fowler. The house was rescued from post-war dereliction by Mrs. Nancy Lancaster.
(Country Life, Vol.CXXVII, pp.268 and 328; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire,
pp.685-7).

Listing NGR: SP6449300596

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17528924

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)