CROQUET GALLERY: Chastleton House CROQUET GALLERY: Chastleton House 16 March 2007
Chastleton House, Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England 
, UK 
in The Cotswolds Gateway
Former Home of Walter James Whitmore [actually W. T. Whitmore-Jones] (1831-1872)
[originator of the first croquet rules, published in The Field in 1866, winner of the first open croquet championship at the Grand National Croquet Club in 1867, and author of Croquet Tactics in 1868]
High-resolution image available upon request.
Chastleton House is one of England's rare and probably one of the most complete Jacobean houses to be seen.
Chastleton House can be found in a beautiful Cotswolds setting in the village of Chastleton, near Moreton-in-Marsh, close to the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire border . The house stands next to the 12th-century village church and is owned by the National Trust who re-opened the property in 1997 after six years of conservation work .
It is a house full of rare and everyday objects, portraits, furniture and textiles which have been collected ever since its creation in 1612. There is also an atmosphere of four hundred years of continuous occupation by one family, a house that is lived in, with wellington boots, walking sticks and other general day to day things, just lying around.
The Elizabethan garden is a classic design of the period and at the centre is a ring of topiary. Here in 1865 the rules for the modern game of croquet was drawn up on the lawns surrounding the house.
When I visited the house, I had a chuckle to myself when reading the guide booklet. The story goes that in the 1940's the owner at that time, Mrs. Irene Whitmore-Jones decided to opened the house. She would tell visitors that the family had lost all their money during the war. Mrs Irene Whitmore-Jones would continue to explain that the war in question was the English Civil War and not WW11, which Europe had just gone through.
The National Trust's biggest concern is that Chastleton House is unique and the protection of the house and all its contents is paramount, so the number of visitors is limited each day. Admission to the house is by timed ticket only and the advice is to book any visit in advance.
There are no facilities other than toilets at the property.The car-park is about 250 yards from the house and there is a steep walk from the car park to the house.
October 2006
Chastleton House, Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England , UK
by Chris Williams
One of Two Croquet Courts
High-resolution image available upon request.
Plaque
High-resolution image available upon request.
22 June 2007
Chastleton House, Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England , UK
in Britain Express
Chastleton House is one of England's finest and most complete Jacobean houses. It is filled with a mixture of rare and everyday objects, furniture and textiles collected since its completion in 1612 by members of one family, in continuous occupation. The gardens are typically Elizabethan and Jacobean with a ring of fascinating topiary at their heart. This house is being conserved rather than restored by the National Trust. Admission by timed ticket. Advance booking strongly recommended as maximum number of visitors admitted per day is 175.
The Gunpowder Plot
The Chastleton estate was once owned by Robert Catesby, one of the Gunpowder Plot instigators. Catesby mortgaged the property to Walter Jones, and when Catesby fell on hard times and was unable to keep up payments, Jones took over the property. Jones pulled down Catesby's house and built a new, grand mansion, which is the Chastleton House we see today.
The House
Chastleton is a superb Jacobean mansion, little altered from its original design. The house is approached by way of a winding path down a moderate hill, with views to an attractive dovecote of similar age to the house. The lovely 12th century parish church of Chastleton is nestled in beside the manor, providing a beautiful picture of English country life at its most idyllic. A small entry gateway gives onto an outer courtyard, with stables to the left and the house itself to the right. Within the house a loosely organized route guides visitors through a series of authentically furnished and restored Jacobean and Tudor rooms.
An enormous amount of work has been done to restore Chastleton, but, unlike many other houses, this restoration has not resulted in a building that seems more museum than house. Here, the floors bend and buckle with the wrinkles of aged timber, and the bedrooms are authentically furnished with period pieces. Though each visitor will find something different to appreciate, I found the most attractive room in the house to be the long gallery. This upper floor chamber occupies the entire length of the house. The roof is, unusually, barrel vaulted, and superbly executed plasterwork adorns every square inch of the ceiling. Here you can also see the devastating effect of the deathwatch beetle that has had a good go at eating away the fabric of the house over the centuries!
Life 'Below Stairs'
One of the most appealing aspects of Chastleton House is the way in which you can see the real 'bones' of the house. The butler's chamber on upper floor gives you an excellent view of the roof beams and the skeleton of the house frame. Descend in turn to the kitchens, which were in use until the 1950s, and you see the fairly primitive conditions in which food was prepared for hundreds of years. Look up to see the blackened grime of centuries on the ceiling of the kitchen; apparently an early resident declared that it was bad luck to clean kitchen ceilings, so it was never touched - and it shows!
Beginnings of Croquet
A large section of gardens behind the house is given over to two large croquet lawns. That seems very appropriate, as it was here at Chastleton in 1865 that the rules of lawn croquet were first codified, so Chastleton House can claim with some justification to be the 'home of croquet'.
Chastleton for Children
The National Trust has several themed 'Discovery Packs' available to younger visitors. These packs consist of various tools, such as a magnifying glass and binoculars that help children answer themed quiz questions as they go from room to room around the house. Our youngest child, age 5, loved her Discovery Pack, and also enjoyed the 'Secret Room'. There is also plenty of room in the grounds for children to run and explore.