Tusmore, Oxfordshire
Encyclopedia
Tusmore is a settlement about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north of Bicester
in Oxfordshire
. It is the location of the Tusmore Park country house
and estate.
times. The toponym
comes from Old English, either Thures mere ("Thur's pool") or Pyrsmere ("a lake haunted by a giant or demon").
The Domesday Book
records that in 1086 the manor
of Tusmore belonged to Walter Giffard
, 1st Earl of Buckingham
.
By the early part of the 14th century Tusmore was the poorest village in the Ploughley Hundred. Thereafter it was depopulated by the Black Death
. By 1358 the village had been abandoned and Sir Roger de Cotesford was licenced to enclose
the abandoned land. The fact that Tusmore was not required to pay tax in 1428 indicates that by then it had fewer than ten householders.
The Fermor family were lords of the manor
of Tusmore from 1606 until 1828, and Tusmore House was their family seat from about 1625 until 1810. In 1828 the last William Fermor died without a male heir and left the estate to his adopted daughter and her husband, John and Maria Turner Ramsay. In 1857 the Ramsays sold the estate to Henry Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham
. In 1929 the heir of Henry Alexander Gordon Howard, 4th Earl of Effingham sold the estate to Vivian Smith
, a merchant banker who in 1938 was created 1st Baron Bicester of Tusmore. Late in the 1990s the Smiths sold Tusmore to the Syria
n billionaire Wafic Saïd
.
by 1074, and it cerainly existed by 1236. After the depopulation of Tusmore in the 14th century the church continued as a chapel or free chapel, and fragments of 15th century masonry found on the site indicate that it was rebuilt at that time. It seems to have ceased to exist by the early part of the 16th century, as records of episcopal visitations at that time make no mention of Tusmore. However, the living continued to exist until 1840 when it was united with that of Hardwick
. The place names "Church Yard" and "Churchyard Close" indicate roughly where the parish church once stood.
The Fermors were recusants
and supported the continuation of Roman Catholicism in Tusmore and neighbouring villages from the English Reformation
in the 16th century until after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791
. The family always had a resident priest, usually a Jesuit
, and several Fermors entered religious orders. All of the Fermor's staff were Roman Catholics, and attended Mass
at the Fermor chapel at Tusmore along with co-religionists form neighbouring villages. This practice continued uninterrupted except for a period from 1768 when Tusmore House was being rebuilt and the chapel was being refurbished (see below). Mass at Tusmore resumed thereafter and continued until 1810 when the last William Fermor moved out of the house and his priest moved to Hardwick.
at Tusmore. It does not survive, but an early 16th century combined granary and dovecote
on staddle stones
remains. It is an oak-framed building, which is unusual in a part of England historically dominated by stone buildings.
The Fermors' house at Tusmore was large, for in 1665 it was assessed as having 19 hearths for the hearth tax. It was built of local stone and had a Roman Catholic chapel as well as ornamental gardens and a fish pond. After 1758 William Fermor had the house demolished except for the chapel and commissioned the Scottish architect Robert Mylne
to design a new house. The exterior was completed by 1770 and the interior by 1779. Mylne's house was of seven bays
and built of local stone, most of it from Fritwell. Mylne laid out the gardens and landscaped the park, the latter with a lake and an ornamental Temple of Peace dedicated to the late poet Alexander Pope
(1688–1744). Pope had been a friend of the Fermor family and in 1712 had written The Rape of the Lock
about an incident in which Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre
had offended Arabella Fermor.
The chapel burned down in 1837. In 1857 the new owner, the 2nd Earl of Effingham, commissioned the Scottish architect William Burn
to build an office wing on the site of the chapel. This was completed along with alterations to the house in 1858. After 1929 Vivian Smith had the house restored, most of the Victorian office wing demolished and some other alterations made. Despite the 1858 and 1929 alterations, a number of the principal rooms retained their original 18th century ceilings in the style of Robert Adam
. Smith greatly changed the gardens and park, retaining little of Milne's landscape design except the Temple of Peace and the lake.
In 1960 Randal Smith, 2nd Baron Bicester
had the house demolished, which Sherwood and Pevsner condemned as "a great loss to a county in which important houses of the last quarter of the C18 are few". The stables were retained and are now a private house. In 1964-65 the architect Claud Phillimore
built a new Tusmore House on the site. It was neo-Georgian but smaller than the house by Mylne. In 1970 the 2nd Baron died in a car accident and was succeeded by his nephew Angus Smith, 3rd Baron Bicester.
In 2000 Wafic Saïd replaced Phillimore's house with a large new neo-Georgian one designed by Sir William Whitfield (born 1920) of Whitfield Lockwood Architects. In 2004 the Georgian Group
gave the completed house its award for the "best new building in the Classical tradition", although other architectural critics have been more sceptical.
Bicester
Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. It is the location of the Tusmore Park country house
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
and estate.
Manor
Tusmore was settled in SaxonHistory of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
times. The toponym
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
comes from Old English, either Thures mere ("Thur's pool") or Pyrsmere ("a lake haunted by a giant or demon").
The Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
records that in 1086 the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Tusmore belonged to Walter Giffard
Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham
Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, 1st Earl of Buckingham was a Norman magnate and one of the few proven Companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The caput of his feudal honour was at Crendon, Buckinghamshire....
, 1st Earl of Buckingham
Earl of Buckingham
The peerage title Earl of Buckingham was created several times in the Peerage of England.It was first created in 1097 for Walter Giffard, but became extinct in 1164 with the death of the second earl. It may have been created again in 1164 for Richard de Clare , who died without issue in 1176...
.
By the early part of the 14th century Tusmore was the poorest village in the Ploughley Hundred. Thereafter it was depopulated by the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
. By 1358 the village had been abandoned and Sir Roger de Cotesford was licenced to enclose
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
the abandoned land. The fact that Tusmore was not required to pay tax in 1428 indicates that by then it had fewer than ten householders.
The Fermor family were lords of the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Tusmore from 1606 until 1828, and Tusmore House was their family seat from about 1625 until 1810. In 1828 the last William Fermor died without a male heir and left the estate to his adopted daughter and her husband, John and Maria Turner Ramsay. In 1857 the Ramsays sold the estate to Henry Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham
Henry Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham
Henry Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham , styled Lord Howard of Effingham from 1837 to 1845, was a British peer and Member of Parliament....
. In 1929 the heir of Henry Alexander Gordon Howard, 4th Earl of Effingham sold the estate to Vivian Smith
Vivian Smith, 1st Baron Bicester
Vivian Hugh Smith, 1st Baron Bicester was a British merchant banker.Smith was the son of Hugh Colin Smith and Constance Maria Josepha , and grandson of John Abel Smith. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge...
, a merchant banker who in 1938 was created 1st Baron Bicester of Tusmore. Late in the 1990s the Smiths sold Tusmore to the Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n billionaire Wafic Saïd
Wafic Saïd
Wafic Rida Saïd is a Syrian-Saudi Arabian businessman living in Monaco and Paris.-Personal life:Saïd married British born Ann Rosemary Thompson in 1969...
.
Church and chapel
Records suggest that Tusmore may have had a parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
by 1074, and it cerainly existed by 1236. After the depopulation of Tusmore in the 14th century the church continued as a chapel or free chapel, and fragments of 15th century masonry found on the site indicate that it was rebuilt at that time. It seems to have ceased to exist by the early part of the 16th century, as records of episcopal visitations at that time make no mention of Tusmore. However, the living continued to exist until 1840 when it was united with that of Hardwick
Hardwick, Cherwell
Hardwick is a village about north of Bicester in Oxfordshire.-Manor:The village's toponym comes from the Old English for a farm or dwelling place for sheep. After the Norman Conquest of England Walter Giffard held the manor of Hardwick, but the Domesday Book records that by 1086 he had given it to...
. The place names "Church Yard" and "Churchyard Close" indicate roughly where the parish church once stood.
The Fermors were recusants
Recusancy
In the history of England and Wales, the recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services. The individuals were known as "recusants"...
and supported the continuation of Roman Catholicism in Tusmore and neighbouring villages from the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
in the 16th century until after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791
Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791
The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1791 relieving Roman Catholics of certain political, educational, and economic disabilities. It admitted Roman Catholics to the practise of law, permitted the exercise of their religion, and the existence of...
. The family always had a resident priest, usually a Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, and several Fermors entered religious orders. All of the Fermor's staff were Roman Catholics, and attended Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
at the Fermor chapel at Tusmore along with co-religionists form neighbouring villages. This practice continued uninterrupted except for a period from 1768 when Tusmore House was being rebuilt and the chapel was being refurbished (see below). Mass at Tusmore resumed thereafter and continued until 1810 when the last William Fermor moved out of the house and his priest moved to Hardwick.
Tusmore Park
Sir Roger de Cotesford or his successors may have built a manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
at Tusmore. It does not survive, but an early 16th century combined granary and dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...
on staddle stones
Staddle stones
Staddle stones were originally used as supporting bases for granaries, hayricks, game larders, etc. The staddle stones lifted the granaries above the ground thereby protecting the stored grain from vermin and water seepage...
remains. It is an oak-framed building, which is unusual in a part of England historically dominated by stone buildings.
The Fermors' house at Tusmore was large, for in 1665 it was assessed as having 19 hearths for the hearth tax. It was built of local stone and had a Roman Catholic chapel as well as ornamental gardens and a fish pond. After 1758 William Fermor had the house demolished except for the chapel and commissioned the Scottish architect Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, particularly remembered for his design for Blackfriars Bridge in London. Born and raised in Edinburgh, he travelled to Europe as a young man, studying architecture in Rome under Piranesi...
to design a new house. The exterior was completed by 1770 and the interior by 1779. Mylne's house was of seven bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
and built of local stone, most of it from Fritwell. Mylne laid out the gardens and landscaped the park, the latter with a lake and an ornamental Temple of Peace dedicated to the late poet Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
(1688–1744). Pope had been a friend of the Fermor family and in 1712 had written The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 1712 in two cantos , but then revised, expanded and reissued under Pope's name on March 2, 1714, in a much-expanded 5-canto version...
about an incident in which Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre
Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre
Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre was a British peer, the son of Thomas Petre, 6th Baron Petre and his wife Mary Clifton, daughter of Sir Thomas Clifton. He succeeded to his title, at the age of 17, upon the death of his father....
had offended Arabella Fermor.
The chapel burned down in 1837. In 1857 the new owner, the 2nd Earl of Effingham, commissioned the Scottish architect William Burn
William Burn
William Burn was a Scottish architect, pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style.He was born in Edinburgh, the son of architect Robert Burn, and educated at the Royal High School. After training with the architect of the British Museum, Sir Robert Smirke, he returned to Edinburgh in 1812...
to build an office wing on the site of the chapel. This was completed along with alterations to the house in 1858. After 1929 Vivian Smith had the house restored, most of the Victorian office wing demolished and some other alterations made. Despite the 1858 and 1929 alterations, a number of the principal rooms retained their original 18th century ceilings in the style of Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
. Smith greatly changed the gardens and park, retaining little of Milne's landscape design except the Temple of Peace and the lake.
In 1960 Randal Smith, 2nd Baron Bicester
Randal Smith, 2nd Baron Bicester
Randall Hugh Vivian Smith, 2nd Baron Bicester was an English businessman.Born in London in 1898, the eldest son of the Vivian Smith, later created 1st Baron Bicester and his wife Lady Sybil Mary McDonnell, daughter of William Randal McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim. He was educated at Eton and...
had the house demolished, which Sherwood and Pevsner condemned as "a great loss to a county in which important houses of the last quarter of the C18 are few". The stables were retained and are now a private house. In 1964-65 the architect Claud Phillimore
Claud Phillimore, 4th Baron Phillimore
Claud Stephen Phillimore was an English architect who in 1990 succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Phillimore.-Works:These include:...
built a new Tusmore House on the site. It was neo-Georgian but smaller than the house by Mylne. In 1970 the 2nd Baron died in a car accident and was succeeded by his nephew Angus Smith, 3rd Baron Bicester.
In 2000 Wafic Saïd replaced Phillimore's house with a large new neo-Georgian one designed by Sir William Whitfield (born 1920) of Whitfield Lockwood Architects. In 2004 the Georgian Group
Georgian Group
The Georgian Group is an English and Welsh conservation organisation created to campaign for the preservation of historic buildings and planned landscapes of the 18th and early 19th centuries...
gave the completed house its award for the "best new building in the Classical tradition", although other architectural critics have been more sceptical.