Shotover Lodge The land encompassing Shotover Park was part of the
Wychwood royal forest as far back as the
Domesday Book. Originally from
Oakley, Buckinghamshire, the Tyrrell family grew extremely powerful in the 17th century. The royal forest in Oxfordshire extended over
Headington,
Marston, and parts of 10 other parishes. However, ongoing fighting among the local population, as well as trees felled by the Royalists during the
English Civil War, caused the forest to fall into such disarray that in 1660 the woodland was disafforested – no longer subject to royal forest laws. Tyrrell eventually sold Oakley and moved back to Shotover after
James II forced him out of local governance in Buckinghamshire for refusing to sign the
Declaration of Indulgence in 1687.
Shotover Park , 1750, showing the house prior to the additional wings added in the 1850s expansion Sir Timothy the younger died in 1701. The construction of the current Shotover Park began circa 1714–15 under his son James, and was located approximately east of the site of the house visited by Queen Elizabeth. In 1717–18, he built a Gothic temple at Shotover. The temple, with corner
turrets, arcaded
loggia, and battlemented gable, is possibly the first intimation of the
Gothic Revival architecture in England. James died the following year and the construction of the building was continued under his son,
Lieutenant-General James Tyrrell, an Army officer and MP. The architect of the new house commissioned by Sir Timothy is uncertain, but Shotover Park is believed to have been designed by William Townsend (or Townesend; 1676–1739), an Oxford architect and mason who worked on many buildings at Oxford University, and who was the son of
Mayor of Oxford John Townesend. Sir
Nikolaus Pevsner wrote in the Oxfordshire edition of his
Buildings of England series that Shotover Park has strong similarities with
The Queen's College, Oxford, linking it to Townsend. The design of the elder James Tyrrell's Gothic temple has been attributed to Townsend or to
James Gibbs. , 1898 In addition to the Gothic temple built for Sir Timothy, the garden includes a large obelisk and another temple designed by
William Kent circa 1735. The obelisk was built to honour the visit of Queen Elizabeth and stands on the site of the ancient house she visited. The Kent temple was badly damaged in the 1980s by falling trees, but it was restored in 1988 with assistance from the
Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. When Thomas died, Shotover Park passed into the hands of the Drury family through his youngest sister Mary, who married Sir George Vandeput, 2nd Baronet. They left only one heir, a daughter Frances, who married Richard Vere Drury. Shotover passed to their son, George Vandeput Drury, who died without an heir in November 1849. Gammie-Maitland went bankrupt in 1871, when the estate was sold to Colonel James Miller. It stayed in the Miller family until 2006, owned by
Alfred Douglas Miller and his son Sir
John Miller,
Crown Equerry and friend of Queen
Elizabeth II. The royal family were frequent visitors to the estate; ==Today==