Standlake - Historic Houses

Historic Houses

Gaunt House, a moated house 0.5 miles (800 m) east of Standlake Village across the River Windrush, existed by the latter part of the 15th century. It is named after the family that owned it until 1516. In the English Civil War it belonged to Samuel Fell, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and was garrisoned by Royalist troops until the Parliamentarian Colonel Thomas Rainsborough besieged and captured it in May 1645. Thereafter it was garrisoned by Parliamentarian troops, including cavalry who raided Kidlington in October 1645 and infantry who fought at Radcot in April 1646. After Samuel Fell's death in 1649 Gaunt House passed first to his widow Margaret and then to his son John Fell, who was Bishop of Oxford from 1676. On his death in 1686 John Fell left Gaunt House to Christ Church, Oxford to provide an income to pay bursaries for poor students. It remained with Christ Church until it was sold 1955. Gaunt House was originally timber-framed but only a section of the original structure remains: all the rest having been replaced in stone by the early part of the 17th century.

Lincoln Cottage, near St. Giles' church, is a timber-framed cruck building dating from about 1500.

Lincoln Farm house, formerly Tyrlings, is also a late mediaeval timber-framed building. It had a chimney stack inserted about 1564 and a stone-built second wing added before the end of the 16th century. At one time its tenant was Walter Bayley, who was physician to Elizabeth I and from 1561 until 1582 was Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Oxford.

Cheswell Cottage was originally called Bodens. It is a timber framed thatched cottage dating from around 1550, with subsequent stone built 17th and 20th century additions. For parts of the 17th and 18th century it was owned by Lincoln College, Oxford.