The Ascott Park Project
This project was revived as a three year SOAG excavation in 2019. Final fieldwork took place in 2021 and the project is now in its post-excavation phase.
Ascott Park is close to the village of Stadhampton, about 7 miles south-east
of Oxford on the B480 Watlington road. It has a mystery at its heart concerning
a lost manor house. The great Oxfordshire family of the Dormers acquired the
manor of Ascott in 1518 and lived in the old medieval/Tudor manor house, of
which Ascott Park Cottage appears to be a small remnant. After the Restoration,
William Dormer – who earned the appellation ‘the Splendid’ by using silver to
trim his horses and carriage – decided to build a grand new manor house,
complete with formal avenues and landscaped gardens in the latest fashion. The
house was close to completion when it was accidentally burnt down, in October
1662. It was never rebuilt and the Dormers and their successors went on living
in the old manor house. The remains of the new house were pulled down, although
we have no record of when. Extensive research and fieldwork undertaken in recent
years, by and on behalf of Oxfordshire Buildings Trust (OBT), to try to confirm
where it stood, seems only to have compounded the mystery. So, what is the story
so far?
John Sykes records that it has long been believed that the site of the house was
marked by a large, rectangular hollow (? cellar) on the centreline of the main
avenue and fronting a wide earth bank (? terrace) that overlooks the formal
gardens to the south [see aerial photo, right]. Mark Bowden of English Heritage,
who carried out a comprehensive earthwork survey of the Park in 2007, fully
supports this accepted view. Roger Ainslie of Abingdon Archaeological Geophysics
(AAG), who carried out an extensive geophysical survey in 2007, favours the
whole area north of the terrace and up as far as the main avenue, as the site of
a much larger house arranged around a courtyard, perhaps open to the east. In
Ainslie’s interpretation, the hollow would be a cellar under just one small part
of a much larger building. Bowden disagrees with this and interprets this area
as an entrance courtyard for the house which he locates at the hollow.
Brian Dix, whose Trench 7 sectioned the bank and western end of the hollow in
2009, concludes that the hollow was not the site of the 1662 house (which must
therefore be elsewhere) but might represent a second attempt to build a house in
the early 18th century. An excavation in 1969, led by Susanna Everett of Oxford
University, also sectioned the bank and the eastern end of the hollow, but
Everett concluded that there were no buildings in the hollow. So the Directors
of two separate excavations 30 years apart, in different ways, both concluded
that the hollow was not the site of the 1662 house. (Above right : Aerial photo
of the much disputed location of the 1662 house. The rectangular hollow and
earth bank are just below the centre of the image.)
One final possibility, put forward by me, Ian Clarke, in 2011 in a somewhat desperate
response to Brian Dix’s unsettling findings, is that the house might have been
at the southern end of the main avenue, looking across a formal garden towards
the terrace; in which case the hollow could be the site of a grotto/pavilion. A
layout popular in the first half of the 17th century but not so fashionable in
the latter half.
So, much data has been gathered and we have several theories but no firm
answers. How do we solve the mystery?
Before we can draw up a project design for meaningful fieldwork there are two
preparatory stages to complete. Firstly, a thorough and critical review of all
the previous work and the conclusions reached. This is already underway.
Secondly, a preliminary geophysical survey to merge with and extend outwards the
‘courtyard’ area of the 2007 earth resistance survey. The primary purpose of
this new survey is to see whether there are any rectilinear anomalies suggesting
a substantial building in the peripheral areas; but it will also enhance
Ainslie’s important ‘courtyard’ area by placing it in a wider context. Subject
to permission and weather, we hope to complete this resistivity survey in May or
June (click here for 2013 detailed plans).
Ascott Park is owned by Oxfordshire County Council and an Historical Trail was
opened by OCC and OBT in 2010, with signboards pointing out the ‘mystery’
surrounding the 1662 house. It is on the English Heritage Register of Historic
Parks and Gardens registered Grade II, and various buildings and structures are
also listed Grade II or II*.
Some useful links:
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/ascott-park-historical-trail
Ascott Park, Stadhampton, Oxfordshire: Analyticla Earthwork Survey of a 17th
Century Park and Garden (Englsh Heritage) (PDF)
Project Leader
Ian Clarke
ascottpark@soagarch.org.uk