Description

ROUSHAM ROUSHAM PARK SP4724 14/204 Rousham House 27/08/57 (Formerly listed as Rousham House, together with Dovecote and stables) GV I Country house. Built c.1635 for Sir Robert Dormer; remodelled 1738-40s by William Kent for General James Dormer; enlarged c.1860 by William St. Aubyn. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings; lead roof; hipped Welsh slate roofs to side wings; moulded stone ashlar stacks. C17 H-plan with wings flanking hall, had side wings added by Kent and rear block added by St. Aubyn. Jacobean 3-storey, 7-window range front with canted bays to front of side wings and crenellated parapet. 3-storey porch has round-arched doorway and C17 studded inner door with musket holes. Chamfered stone-mullioned windows; Kent removed ground and first-floor mullions and his octagonal glazing is retained in windows to right; c.1860 plate-glass sashes. Ogee-cupola by Kent to roof. Jacobean-style block by St. Aubyn to rear. C17 house flanked by Kent's 2-storey pavilions: on garden side are canted bay windows with octagonal glazing set in Jacobean-style mullioned and transomed windows, which are flanked by Gothick ogee niches with statues of classical subjects by Henry Cheere; dentilled cornice with small pediments. Joined to house by one-storey corridors with crested parapets: marble busts by Scheemakers and urn set in ogee niches, and C17 studded door with musket holes set in chamfered Tudor-arched doorway. Interior: each staircase has mid C17 staircase with turned balusters and lantern finials set on newels; fine mid C17 panelled room on first floor of west wing. C17 and C18 interior features, of prime importance being the Parlour and Library. Parlour in east wing by William Kent: panelled room with elaborately-moulded doorcases. Richly carved Baroque overmantel, with Medusa's head, swags etc., by John Marden has swans flanking painting of Mountebanks by Van Laer; painted ceiling by Kent depicts romantic landscapes and arabesques, and Ceres, Bacchus and Venus in central medallion; carved wall brackets made by Kent for General Dormer's collection of Italian bronzes. Library in west wing has vaulted Moorish ceiling and Gothic frieze to fireplace by Kent; overmantle frames portrait of General Dormer by Van Loo; frieze has relief of Leda and the Swan by Rusconi. Library turned into Drawing Room c.1760 by Thomas Roberts of Oxford, who made elaborate rococo plasterwork frames for doorcases, windows and portraits, with eagles set in broken pediments. The Parlour is a rare and complete example of Kent's work. The house and gardens (q.v.), also landscaped by Kent, for General James Dormer, are still owned by the Cottrell-Dormer family. The gardens have been noted as being "The most complete and typical of William Kent's gardens" (Hussey, 1967) and are of prime importance as the most complete early example of informal landscape design. (Rousham Park is included in the H.B.M.C. Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade I; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp741-3; National Monuments Record; M. Jourdain, The Work of William Kent, 1948, passim; H.M. Colvin, A. Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1660-1840, 1978, p493; M.T. Wilson, William Kent 1685-1748, 1984, pp214-7; C. Hussey, "Rousham, Oxfordshire", Country Life, Vol 94 (1946)). (For Rousham Park Gardens (q.v.) see also K. Woodbridge, "William Kent's , Gardening: the Rousham Letters', Apollo, Vol 100 (1974); C. Hussey, English Gardens and Landscapes, 1700-1750), 1967, pp147-153; J. Fleming, "William Kent at Rousham", Connoisser, Vol 153; C. Hussey, "A Georgian Arcady.,.", Country Life, Vol 94 (1946))

Listing NGR: SP4783424221

External Links

• Rousham House at Wikipedia
• Rousham House official website
• Wikidata Q2169309

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990