Oxburgh Hall, Oxborough (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Fortified Country House. Licence to crenellate 1482; extensive refurbishment during the late C18 and C19 with the involvement of J.C. Buckler and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Brick with some stone dressings. Pantile roofs. Square moated site of 4 wings around a courtyard. The main fabric of the north, the west and half the east wings is C15. The single storeyed south wing is of 1865 with an adjoining C18 section to the west and a mainly early C19 tower to the east. Mainly 2 storeys with attics. North facade. Central 3-storey C15 gatehouse with a 4-centred vaulted archway flanked by polygonal turrets decorated with moulded brick arched corbel tables. Western turret houses winding stair with small quatrefoil windows. Upper storeys of eastern turret have single light arched windows with rectangular hood moulds. Centre bay with a 4-light stone first floor window with arched transoms and brick and stone relieving arches. Similar 3-light second floor window just beneath a 4-centred machicolation. Stepped crenellations. Early C18 3-bay bridge with crenellated parapet crosses the moat. Flanking facades with C19 Gothic fenestration, moulded brick arched corbel tables and crenellated parapets. 2 crow-stepped attic gables with pairs of Cosseyware chimney shafts. East facade. Northern half C15. Southern half C18 and C19 including the 4-storey tower to south west corner. One C18 semicircular-headed sash window with glazing bars. Otherwise C19 Gothic including a stone-dressed 2-storey canted bay with carving and 2 stone-dressed oriels. Arched corbel table. 2 crow- stepped attic gables with single Cosseyware chimney shafts, gabled north wing and 2 gabled dormers. Fabric of west facade almost entirely C15 with Fenestration and decoration similar to that of east facade. Interior. Adequately described in Oxburgh Hall, National Trust, 1982, except for the outstanding C15 roofs over the northern half of the east wing and over the complete west wing. Fully moulded arch braced roofs with king posts rising from collars to braced ridge beam. Furbishment of east wing attributable to J.C. Buckler (Listed Building Report)

Fortified country house with a licence to crenellate in 1482. Extensive refurbishments during late C18 and C19 with the involvement of Buckler and A Pugin. Built of brick with some stone dressings and a pantile roof. Square moated site of four wings around a courtyard. The majority of the north, west and part of the eastern wings is C15 in date. The south wing was built in 1865, with an adjoining C18 section to the west and a mainly C19 tower to the east. A C15 gatehouse stands in the centre of the north facade and an early C18 bridge crosses the moat. Excavation revealed a brick-lined shaft dating from circa 1480, possibly a well or a garderobe shaft. (PastScape)

The gatehouse is flanked by rather unusual gunports consisting of a cross-slit running down to a stirrup-shaped aperture, a type common in Germany. (PastScape ref. Kent, 1988)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1482 July 3 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1342586
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 356967.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2627.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- National Trust
  Michael Cook's Castles Abbeys and Medieval Buildings
  Cambridge Military History
  CastleUK.net
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 8-9, 10-11, 395-9, 404, 509n59
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 68-9
  Liddiard, R., 2000, Landscapes of Lordship (British Archaeological Reports British Series 309) p. 112-3
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 138
  Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 37, 59
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton) p. 174
  Bedingfield, Henry, 1987, Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk: the first 500 years (National Trust)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 163
  Rogerson, Andrew, 1994, 'Castles' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 68-9
  Brown, R.Allen, 1989, Castles from the Air (Cambridge University Press) p. 171-72
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 310
  Wilton, J.W., 1979, Earthworks and Fortifications of Norfolk (Weathercock Press) p. 27
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk (Penguin) p. 282-3
  Tipping, H.A., 1937, English Homes, period 1 Vol. 2 (London) p. 321-42
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 307 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 290-2 online copy
  Pugin, A., 1850, Pugin's Examples of Gothic Architecture (London: Henry and Bohn) Vol. 1
  Britton, John, 1809, The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain Vol. 11 p. 87
  Blomefield, F., 1807, 'Hundred of South Greenhoe: Oxburg' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 6 p. 177-8 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Guy, Neil, 2011-12, 'The Rise of the Anti-clockwise Newel Stair' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 25 p. 113-174 online copy
  Wainwright, Clive, 1993 Dec 09 and 16, 'Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk' Country Life p. 40-3, 48-51
  Rose, E., Jennings, S., 1985, 'The excavation of a brick-lined shaft and its contents at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk' Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol. 19 p. 35-47
  Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 227-8
  Coulson, C., 1979, 'Structural Symbolism in Medieval Castle Architecture' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 132 p. 79 (reprinted in Liddiard, Robert (ed), 2016, Late Medieval Castles (Boydell Press) p. 199-220)
  Kenyon, J.R., 1977, 'Early Gunports' Fort Vol. 4 p. 83
  Tipping, H.A.,1929, 'Oxburgh Hall' Country Life Vol. 66 p. 194-202, 224-32
  Anon, 1903 Apr 11, 'Oxburgh Hall' Country Life Vol. 13 p. 470-7
  Leyland, J., 1897 May 22, Country Life Vol. 1 p. 548-50
  McGill, G.H., 1855, 'Oxburgh Hall' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 4 p. 271-85 online copy
Guidebooks
- Bedingfield, A.L., 1968 (2edn), Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)
  de Zulueta, F., 1953, Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1901, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III (1476-85) p. 308 online copy

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