Beckett Hall
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Beckett Hall (or Beckett House) is a
country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
at Shrivenham in the English county of
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
(formerly in
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
). The present house dates from 1831.


History

This manor is first mentioned in the
Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
survey, and was acquired by King John in 1204. The property was held by William, the Count of Evreux, on behalf of King John who occasionally made residence there. In return for service, King John granted ownership of the estate to the de Becote family who held the manor until 1424. In 1633, the Manor was bought by Sir Henry Marten, a judge, then inherited by his son Henry Marten, a prominent Civil War politician and one of the
regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
s of King Charles I. In 1648, the house was ransacked by royalists. On the son's death, the lands were sold to Sir George Pratt. In 1666,
John Wildman Sir John Wildman (2 June 1693) was an English politician and soldier. Biography Wildman was born to Jeffrey and Margaret Wildman (née Poaker) in the Norfolk town of Wymondham. He was christened at Wymondham on 24 January 1621, the youngest ...
bought the property. Wildman's son adopted John Shute as his heir. In 1716, John Shute was bequeathed the Barrington name by Francis Barrington and inherited the Beckett estates. He was also the recipient of a newly created
Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...
, Viscount Barrington of Ardglass. He changed his name to John Shute Barrington, and established Beckett as the family seat. The Barrington family held the estate for many years.


House

The present house was built in 1830–1831 for the 6th Viscount Barrington and is near the site of an earlier large manor house which was partly burnt down during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. The first designs were by the architect William Atkinson, but were redrawn by Thomas Lidell, brother of the Viscountess. It has two storeys and attics, and is in
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
revival style with mullioned windows, gabled roofs and tall chimney-stacks. The east (entrance) front and the south front have five bays, in the latter case with the two outer bays projected forward. The entrance is flanked by full-height octagonal buttresses, capped by stone cupolas. Inside are decorative plaster ceilings and fine marble fireplace surrounds, several of them from the 18th century and perhaps from the previous house. To the north are a two-storey servants' block and modern additions.


Military use

In 1936, following the death the previous year of Charlotte, widow of the 9th Viscount Barrington, the hall and estate were bought by the War Office for use as an artillery training school. From 1939 it was the home of 133 Officer Cadet Training Unit, and in 1945–6 the American University for US military personnel. In 1946, the estate became home to the
Royal Military College of Science The Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) was a British postgraduate school, research institution and training provider with origins dating back to 1772. It became part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in 2009, and ceased to exis ...
, since 2015 absorbed into the
Defence Academy of the United Kingdom The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom provides higher education for personnel in the British Armed Forces, Civil Service (United Kingdom), Civil Service, other government departments and service personnel from other nations. Structure The ...
, and the hall served as an officers' mess, then as the college library. The college later vacated the hall, moving to a new building on the DCMT campus, and the hall became a management centre. In 2021 the building became the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre after their previous home at Amport House, Hampshire was vacated. A modern extension has been built providing accommodation.


Designations

The house is a
Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
; the China House in the grounds, traditionally seen as the work of
Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...
, is listed at Grade I.


Notable residents

Notable residents include: * Henry Marten – politician,
regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
and resident of Beckett Hall *
John Wildman Sir John Wildman (2 June 1693) was an English politician and soldier. Biography Wildman was born to Jeffrey and Margaret Wildman (née Poaker) in the Norfolk town of Wymondham. He was christened at Wymondham on 24 January 1621, the youngest ...
– politician and republican agitator * John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington – statesman and 1st Viscount Barrington, resident of Beckett Hall * William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington – politician, eldest son of John Shute Barrington * Samuel Barrington – Admiral, fourth son of John Shute Barrington *
Shute Barrington Shute Barrington (26 May 173425 March 1826) was an English churchman, Bishop of Llandaff in Wales, as well as Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Durham in England. Early life Barrington was born at Beckett Hall in Shrivenham in Berkshire (n ...
Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's cathedra, seat is in the Llandaff Cathedral, Cathedral Chu ...
, of Salisbury and of Durham; younger son of John Shute Barrington * Robert Whitehead – engineer, designer of the self-propelled torpedo; rented Beckett Hall in his last years and died there in 1905


Legacy

The estate and the Barrington family who lived there were the inspirations for the naming of
Becket, Massachusetts Becket is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,931 ...
and
Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...
.


References


Further reading

*
"Old and new Beckett House"
– Shrivenham Heritage Society
"Hostesses at Home: The Viscountess Barrington at Beckett"
– detailed description of the house in ''The Onlooker'', 15 October 1910 (via Shrivenham Heritage Society) {{Authority control Grade II listed buildings in Oxfordshire Country houses in Oxfordshire History of Berkshire Houses completed in 1831