Chastleton, near Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, is a very small village in the lovely Evenlode Valley in the Cotswolds. The main attraction of this village is Chastleton House, a rare and probably the most complete Jacobean country house in England. It dates from 1603, when Walter Jones, the son of a rich wool merchant, started to build the house and completed it in 1607. The Jones family gradually became impoverished, but owned the house until 1991, when it was entrusted to the National Trust. They have conserved, rather than restored the contents of the house, creating a “time capsule”, which shows the house virtually unchanged over four hundred years.
Chastleton House appeared in the BBC 2015 series, “Wolf Hall”, as the home of the Seymour family, where Jane Seymour was first seen by Henry VIII and where Thomas Cromwell spent his childhood. Chastleton House can claim to be the “home of croquet”. Behind the house are two large croquet lawns. In 1865, the rules of lawn croquet were first codified here.
Next to Chastleton House is St. Mary’s Church, which was built about 1100. All that remains of the Norman Church, is the door in the North Wall and some arched pillars. In 1320, it was enlarged to include the Chancel and South Aisle. The Bell Tower was added in 1689.
Where in England is Chastleton, Oxfordshire?
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