Middleton Park

Monday 23 June 2025, 2pm – 4pm

Middleton Stoney, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 4AQ

***We have a special opportunity at short notice to visit Middleton Park***

Image copyright, Savills.

Middleton Park was the last great country house built before the Second World War on which Lutyens collaborated with his son, Robert.  The estate had been owned by the Earls of Jersey since the 17th century and the original house, dating from 1755, was demolished to make way for the present building. The brief from the 9^th Earl of Jersey was for a compact family home with elegant reception rooms and accommodation for a dozen guests, each bedroom with a bathroom. The upper floor provided nursery suites and rooms for ladies’ maids; the Earl stipulated that all other staff, resident or visiting, were to be housed in four detached lodges.

Upon the death of his father at Middleton Park in December 1923, George Child Villiers succeeded as the 9th Earl of Jersey and inherited nearly 20,000 acres of land in England.  Lord Jersey was  a clerk with Glyn, Mills & Co in 1932 and served as chairman of Wallace Brothers Sassoon Bank (taken over by the Standard Chartered Bank in 1976).  He fought in World War II, gaining the rank of Major in the Royal Artillery of the Territorial Army.

Lord Jersey was married three times and twice divorced. He married his first wife, Patricia Richards (1914–2017) at St Margaret’s, Westminster on 12 January 1932. A week after his divorce was finalized, Lord Jersey married American actress Virginia Cherrill on 30 July 1937 at the Chelsea Register Office. She was the ex-wife of actor Cary Grant.

At first sight, the house strikes one as very un-English, the entrance façade with a blank lower wall and monumental rusticated porch is awe-inspiring. The west façade, overlooking the lawn and formal terraces, is articulated with long sash windows and shutters beneath a steeply pitched roof, recalling 17th century French chateaux.

No sooner had the house been completed than the war broke out in 1939, and it was requisitioned (the Jerseys only managed a few weekend parties). When the 9th Earl tried to give Middleton to the National Trust, they refused on the grounds that the house had been remodelled by Lutyens – whose houses they now seek particularly. The 9th Earl gave Osterley Park in Hounslow to the nation in the late 1940s; he said of that house, ‘it took a trained staff of 12 to bring me a boiled egg in the morning, and the egg was always cold by the time it got to me!‘

After the war the Jersey family sold it and it passed through the hands of several owners before the Davenports purchased it in the 1970s. The Davenports divided the house into a series of apartments, retaining the scale of the rooms and all the circulation areas.

It is now for sale and the estate agents have kindly offered a tour of the interiors.

Important information

The house is not accessible for wheelchair users as we hope to be visiting all floors.

We are not providing refreshments but there is a good range of restaurants in Bicester.

The nearest railway stations are Heyford, Bicester North and Tackley (in that order) and there are taxis available if advisable to check online and book ahead (eg Go Green, Kingsmere and Lux taxi services).  It is a 10 minute car journey from Heyford or Bicester North.

There are several notable attractions nearby: for example, Rousham House and Gardens  by William Kent, open from 10am and, along the drive to Middelton Park, All Saints Middleton Stoney, a 12th Century church later remodelled by S S Teulon and G E Street, which is normally open during daylight hours.

Manual bookings

If you wish to pay with a cheque, please use the online booking facility, and then choose the ‘pay by cheque’ option on the payments screen. This will reserve you a ticket(s) and give you instructions on where to send your cheque. All cheques should be made payable to ‘The Lutyens Trust’ and made to the appropriate amount, and to include an additional £3 banking charge per cheque.

Any questions please telephone Paul Waite on 07483 224 653

or email pjdwaite@hotmail.com or deborahmays@lutyenstrust.org.uk.