Type English Country House Country England Estimated completion 1680 | Town or city Kidmore End Status Listed building | |
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Similar Hurst Spit, Coronation Chair, Kinniside Stone Circle, Cotswold Wildlife Park | ||
Kidmore House is a Grade II* listed country house in the village of Kidmore End, in Oxfordshire, England.
Contents
Map of Kidmore House, Chalkhouse Green Rd, Kidmore End, Reading RG4 9AR, UK
It was built in 1680 and is described by Historic England as being "Late C17. Flint base; grey brick with red brick dressings; plain tile roof; brick stacks. 2 storey and attic 5-window range. Central 6-panel door with fanlight and Doric pilaster to each side supporting segmental pediment.12-pane unhorned sashes to all openings. Flat brick band between ground and first floor, and below eaves. Dentil cornice to eaves. 2 gabled dormers. Hipped roof. Internal stacks to left and right return. Interior noted as having contemporary staircase and 3 panelled rooms ... Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest; 5.5% of listed buildings are Grade II*."
On 29 May 1927 the house and estate were described in The Times as having; "entrance and lounge halls, oak-panelled dining room, two other reception rooms, six principal bed rooms, four maids' rooms, three bath room etc." The "pleasure grounds" of fourteen acres included "spacious lawns with stately trees and parklike meadowland".
History
The history of Kidmore House goes back to Norman times, when Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, was given the land on which the country house stands after the 1066 conquest. In 1158, the fourth year of the reign of Henry II, his son Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham and Ermigardis his wife together founded the Abbey of Notley in Buckinghamshire, a house of Augustinian friars, on whom they bestowed this land. The Giffard's original charter, in Latin, which survives in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, was confirmed by King John. The Abbey of Notley, together with other land in Caversham, continued with the friars until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1536 by King Henry VIII, who sold the estate and surrounding land to his cofferer, (or Chief Disbursing Officer for the Royal Household). Kidmore House was completed in 1680 and was most likely constructed by his descendants.