The DiCamillo Companion - Database: History, Gardens, Movies

Thame Park
Oxfordshire
England

History

Earlier House(s) / Building(s)

House Replaced By

Built / Designed For

House & Family History

Thame is built on the site of an important Cistercian abbey, founded in 1138 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. The current house includes the early 16th century abbot's lodgings (to the south) and a small 13th-14th century range on the north, and incorporates arched cloisters. In the mid-18th century these various pieces were linked by a new house built on the west, probably on the site of other monastic buildings. The result is a house with 25,000 sq. feet of interior space sporting a west front that's Georgian and a late Gothic south front, complete with crenellated turrets and mullioned windows. The 16th century interiors are some of the earliest examples of the Italian Renaissance style in England. In 1984 Sir Frank Bowden, whose family made their fortune founding the Raleigh Bicycle Company, sold Thame Park to a Japanese family. The new owners intended to turn Thame into a country house hotel and started work on refurbishing the interiors; however, in 1992 all work came to a stop and in 2000 Thame was put up for sale for £8 million. The Estate sold for £6 million in 2002 and the House is now being restored and converted back into a private home, with completion due in 2005

Collections
This field lists art objects that are currently or were previously in the collection of the house.

For information on the history of British currency, click here. To use a chart that allows you to compare the purchasing power of money in Great Britain from 1264 to any other year, including the present, click here. To use a currency conversion to see the current value of the British pound, click here.

Comments

Gardens & Park top

Garden, Park, Follies and Outbuildings

Thame has 450 acres of parkland, with 30 acres of gardens that are listed Grade II, complete with a seven-acre lake and a sunken Rose Garden, all set within a 1,200 acre Estate. The Stables are also Grade II listed. In the early 21st century new greenhouses and potting sheds were built.

Chapel & Church

A fine Grade II Chapel is in the Park.

Movies top

Location for Movies / TV

"The Madness of King George" (1994). "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (1996). "Emma" (1997 - TV mini series). "Saving Private Ryan" (1998 - Storming the machine nest, all the shots of large fields, and the half-track ambush). "Midsomer Murders" (1997 - TV series, hunt scenes in episode "Death of a Stranger"). "The Wyvern Mystery" (2000 - TV mini series, as Carwell Grange). "The Governess" (1998). "Lady Chatterley" (1993).