Oxenford Gatehouse

Elstead, Surrey

Overview

Deep in the Surrey countryside stands a gatehouse built in the 19th century by one of this country’s most influential and talented architects, A W N Pugin, and sits on the edge of a farm amongst other pieces of Pugin’s great work.

  • Fire or StoveFire or Stove
  • Open SpaceOpen Space
  • Logs availableLogs available
  • Parking AvailableParking Available
  • Bath with ShowerBath with Shower
  • MicrowaveMicrowave

Beds 1 Twin, 1 Double

Sleeps
4
4 nights from
£448 equivalent to £28.00 per person, per night

Augustus Pugin

In 1843, Lord Midleton, a young Anglican aristocrat, commissioned Augustus Pugin to dress his farm at Oxenford with a great barn, outbuildings and a gatehouse, to guard the entrance to his adjacent Peper Harow estate. It was a chance to recreate the sort of honest, utilitarian buildings that Pugin so admired from the Middle Ages, a time when he felt that ‘in matters of ordinary use, a man must go out of his way to produce a bad thing’. With ample funds, for once, and at the height of his powers, Pugin produced a group of buildings generally agreed to be among his finest work, using good local materials in a Picturesque style that adapted that of the Middle Ages for his own time.

Peper Harow House, to which this gatehouse once formed an entrance, was divided into flats some years ago, and the gatehouse reverted to serve Oxenford Grange, on whose lands it stands. In lovely countryside and amid Pugin's other buildings, the gatehouse still serenely surveys the coming and goings of a working farmyard, whose owner turned to us for a use to ensure its future. The gatehouse is filled with Pugin details, with a spiral staircase and open fire.

‘The spiral staircase increased our fitness greatly.’

From the logbook

Floor Plan

Reviews

Map & local info

Oxenford Gatehouse sits on farmland, deep in the Surrey countryside near the semi rural village of Elstead. The location is perfect for pleasant walks in the surrounding woods and heathland.

Explore nearby Hindhead Commons and the Devil's Punch Bowl, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and admire the scenic views and abundant wildlife. For a more leisurely stroll amidst richly varied collections of plants, visit the Royal Horticultural Society Garden at Wisley .

Delight in the splendours of Clandon Park and Petworth House, impressive historic houses in the area, and browse the ancient ruins of Odiham Castle.

Take a trip into the bustling town of Guildford, with its cobbled High Street, castle and inviting range of shops, markets, museums, theatres, galleries and cultural events.

For more ideas and information on things to see and do during your stay at Oxenford Gatehouse, take a look at our Pinterest page.

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History

Dating from the Middle Ages?

At first glance, Oxenford Gatehouse and the group of adjacent farm buildings could well be assumed to date from the Middle Ages. The farm known today as Oxenford Grange was indeed originally part of the holdings of Waverley Abbey near Farnham, the first Cistercian monastery in the country, founded in 1128. The adjacent fishpond dates from this time, and there was originally quite a fine dwelling, remnants of which the 4th Viscount Midleton used to construct the ‘ruin’ beside today’s farmhouse.

In 1536, Waverley (whose name inspired Sir Walter Scott to write his first novels, though they are set nowhere near Surrey) met the same fate as all English monastic institutions, and was dissolved by Henry VIII. Oxenford then passed through various owners until 1676 when it was amalgamated by Denzil, Lord Holles with the adjacent estate of Peper Harow. Eventually, in 1713, the Peper Harow estate was bought by Alan Brodrick, from a family that had made a substantial fortune in Ireland.

In 1717, Brodrick was created 1st Viscount Midleton (after a town on his Cork estates) for his services as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. This began the association of the Midleton family with Peper Harow, which was to last until the mid 20th century. In 1747, the 3rd Viscount demolished the old mansion at Peper Harow and commissioned William Chambers to build a new one. The family moved to Oxenford Grange for the duration, when not living in their London house. The new mansion was unfinished when the 3rd Viscount died in 1765, leaving his widow Albinia to complete it on behalf of their then 8-year old son, the 4th Viscount. Ten years later in 1785, the main house was finished and the 4th Viscount pulled down most of Oxenford Grange, leaving only today’s farmhouse.

When the 4th Viscount died in 1836, his title passed to his only son, George Alan Brodrick, 5th Viscount Midleton. This pair had had a somewhat troubled relationship: George had been ostracised by his family for marrying Ellen Griffiths, a laundry maid in 1833, and was never reconciled with his father. He did eventually succeed in laying claim to the Peper Harow estate and Irish holdings as well as his title, and in 1841 began to think about enhancing the Peper Harow estate. Inspired by a mention in Hunt’s Architecture about a gate lodge ‘intended to have the appearance of being raised on the Ruins of a Priory,’ Lord Midleton ‘then thought, that a New Lodge might be built in strict accordance with the style of the Abbey of Waverley, & that I might arrange the Entrance, so as to see the Present Ruins which are now a pretty object but are not seen from the present Entrance.’ His aspirations also extended to rebuilding nearby farm buildings in the Abbey Style, whose repair he had been purposely postponing.

For the design of these buildings (gatehouse, great barn and farm buildings, and also alterations to St Nicholas Church at Peper Harow and a shrine over a holy well called Bonfield Spring) he turned to A W Pugin, then 30-years old and at the height of his powers. Pugin is one of the great designers and architects of the first half of the 19th century, dedicating himself to a return to the pointed forms of architecture of the Middle Ages in the movement known as the Gothic Revival. A convert to Catholicism, Pugin designed numerous churches, monasteries and dwellings, as well as a stream of Gothic ornamentation and everyday objects. He also worked with Charles Barry on the Palace of Westminster, rebuilt in the Gothic style after it was destroyed by fire in 1834.

Both Pugin and Lord Midleton were volatile and temperamental men, but their collaboration at Oxenford is rightly judged among Pugin’s best work. Lord Midleton was a generous client and the gatehouse and other buildings are very well built of good local Bargate stone with Portland dressings. The gatehouse at least was built by Pugin’s favourite builder, George Myers, who also built The Grange in Ramsgate (Pugin’s own home, which was also being built 1843-4 and is today also cared for by Landmark).

The result represents Pugin’s mature style at its height, an assured combination of simple medieval form and blocking with Regency theories of the Picturesque. The grouping embodies his theory of ‘natural architecture’ which he expounded in his Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture which he wrote and published during the Oxenford project. Pugin urged his readers to look for beauty in ‘the mere essentials of construction’ even in humble everyday structures like barns and sheds – an approach actualised by the Oxenford buildings.

A short history of Oxenford Gatehouse

Read the full history album for Oxenford Gatehouse

Restoration

Furnished in Pugin's style

Landmark lets Oxenford Gatehouse on behalf of the present owners, whose family have farmed at Oxenford since the 1880s. We were happy to advise on its restoration through 2009, during which the landscaping was returned to its original levels, electrical cables buried and the building rewired. Modern internal finishes were removed and corrected, glazing replaced, a modern staircase removed and underfloor heating installed on the ground floor. Drawing on our experience at The Grange, in Ramsgate, also in Landmark’s care and once Pugin’s own home, the gatehouse has been furnished with furniture in Pugin’s style or, in a few instances, designed by him.

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