House
The first recording of buildings on the site of Friars Court dates back to 1142 and the establishment of the first ‘Hospitaller’ in Oxfordshire by the charitable, religious order of the Knights Templar Order of St. John of Jerusalem. An ‘Hospitaller’ was a place of rest for travellers and from it are believed to derive the words ‘hospital’ and ‘hostel’.
In a chronicle of 1338, Friars Court is mentioned as being “... a small house with gardens, dovecote and adjacent crofts worth 30s a year”. This accommodated the preceptor (the only serving brother), a chaplain, a steward, two servants and three pensioners.
A few years later after the building of a bridge over the River Thames at nearby Radcot (now the oldest surviving crossing to remain standing), the increase in passing traffic must have had a strong influence in making Friars Court a more important stopping point.
By the middle of the 15th century the “small house” had become a stone-built hall with a ‘great chamber’; a separate kitchen, with an adjoining building; latrines to the east; a bake-house and a stone-built chapel with a walled garden to the north.
The house remained under auspices of the Order of St John until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s after which it became a private residence. From 1558 until the turn of the 19th century Friars Court had a varied succession of owners, often joint owners, most of whom let the house and land to tenants. During this period the most significant change to the house, before the alterations of the 19th century, was the addition of an attic storey and the remodelling of the façade in the 1650s.
The estate was still called a manor in 1803, though when sold in 1835 it appears the new owner did not acquire the manorial rights along with the house. Between that time and 1886 the house changed considerably: the most significant alteration saw the existing spiral main staircase replaced by a closed-string straight flight running between two galleried landings; this required radical re-arrangement of rooms on all floors and for one window in the façade to be blanked off. These sweeping changes extended to creating more defined servants’ rooms in the attics, the creation of a butler’s pantry and the installation of indoor plumbing for the family. Externally, the two ’Gothic’ porches were added and the coach house built.
Richard Willmer arrived at Friars Court in 1917 as a tenant farmer although three years later he bought the freehold. Richard eventually passed the management of the house and farm to his son John in 1945 who continues to live in the house today along with his son Charles and his partner.
In 1990 some of the former back rooms which include the old Laundry and Dairy were sympathetically converted into public reception rooms and toilet facilities (including disabled) to accommodate the growing number of people visiting Friars Court. In 1997 a 40 foot, partially glass roofed Garden Room was built, not only to enhance the house but also to allow visitors a greater degree of comfort.
In 2002 Friars Court was granted a Civil Ceremony license and there are now nine areas within the house and gardens where weddings and other ceremonies may be conducted.
More information about the history of the house, gardens and farm can be found in the Display Rooms as well as ‘Friars Court – the Farm Guide’ which can be purchased from the Shop.
The house is not open to visitors.
