Ascott Park
Though it is passed by a busy road and crossed by a major footpath the 16th-17th- century parkland at Ascott, just south-east of Stadhampton, Oxfordshire, is not well known. Recent survey and investigation, undertaken at the request of the Oxfordshire Buildings Trust, has thrown considerable light on the history of this park.
Partly overlying the remains of the medieval hamlet of Ascot, the park was developed by successive generations of the Dormer family until, in about 1662, the grand new house built by Sir William ‘the Splendid’ Dormer was accidentally burnt down before construction was complete. Thereafter the site was abandoned, leaving well preserved earthwork traces and several historic garden buildings of great interest, including a very fine late 16th-century brick-built dovecote, and six late 17th-century gate piers alongside the B480, now presiding over a blocked gateway that leads – apparently – nowhere.
To find out more about this project, contact Mark Bowden in English Heritage's Swindon office, on 01793 414700 or e-mail mark.bowden@english-heritage.org.uk.
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