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'''Beckett Hall''' (or '''Beckett House''') is a [[English country houses|country house]] at [[Shrivenham]] in the [[England|English]] county of [[Oxfordshire]] (formerly in [[Berkshire]]). The present house dates from 1831.
[[File:The China House, Beckett Hall.jpg|thumb|The lake and the China House,
==History==
This manor is first mentioned in the [[Domesday]] survey,<ref>{{OpenDomesday|SU2388|shrivenham|Shrivenham}}</ref> and was acquired by [[John of England|King John]] in 1204.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shrivenham |url=http://www.spaceagency.co.uk/villages/v_detail.php?id=805
{{blockquote|The King holds Scrivenham in the demesne [domain] that King Edward held it. There are 46 hides. There is land for 33 ploughs. On the demesne there are 4 ploughs and there 80 villeins and 17 borderers with 30 ploughs...In the Manor are two mills worth twenty shillings, and {{convert|240|acre|km2}} of meadow and woodland'' ''to render 20 swine. In the time of King Edward it was worth 35 pounds, and afterwards 20, not 45 pounds.<ref>Berkshire, Domesday Survey series, Phillimore publishing, Sussex, 1983.</ref>}}
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The property was held by William, the Count of [[Evreux]], on behalf of King John who occasionally made residence there. In return for service, King John granted ownership of the estate to the de Becote family who held the manor until 1424.
In 1633, the Manor was bought by [[Sir Henry Marten]], a judge, then inherited by his son [[Henry Marten (regicide)|Henry Marten]], a prominent Civil War politician and one of the [[regicide]]s of King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. In 1648, the house was ransacked by royalists.<ref>Taylor, Amanda (2006){{cite web |title=Henry 'Harry, the Regicide' Colonel MARTEN |url=http://www.familyhistoryarticles.com/Article/Henry--Harry--the-Regicide--Colonel-MARTEN/5
In 1666, [[John Wildman]] bought the property. Wildman's son adopted [[John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington|John Shute]] as his heir. In 1716, John Shute was bequeathed the Barrington name by Francis Barrington and inherited the Beckett estates. He was also the recipient of a newly created [[Peerage of Ireland]], [[Viscount Barrington]] of Ardglass. He changed his name to John Shute Barrington, and established Beckett as the family seat. The Barrington family held the estate for many years.
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== Military use ==
{{Further-text|{{Section link|Shrivenham|Military sites}}}}
In 1936, following the death the previous year of Charlotte, widow of the [[Walter Barrington, 9th Viscount Barrington|9th Viscount Barrington]], the hall and estate were bought by the War Office for use as an artillery training school.<ref>{{Cite web |
In 1946, the estate became home to the [[Royal Military College of Science]], since 2015 absorbed into the [[Defence Academy of the United Kingdom]], and the hall served as an officers' mess, then as the college library. The college later vacated the hall, moving to a new building on the DCMT campus, and the hall became a management centre. In 2021 the building became the [[Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre]] after their previous home at [[Amport House]], Hampshire was vacated. A modern extension has been built providing accommodation.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}
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==Further reading==
*{{cite web|first=David |last=Nash Ford|year=2010 |url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/beckett_house.html |title=Royal Berkshire History: Beckett House |publisher=Nash Ford Publishing}}
*[http://www.shrivenhamheritagesociety.co.uk/downloads/old-and-new-beckett-house.pdf "Old and new Beckett House"] – Shrivenham Heritage Society
*[http://www.shrivenhamheritagesociety.co.uk/downloads/barrington-whole-article-in-onlooker-.pdf "Hostesses at Home: The Viscountess Barrington at Beckett"] – detailed description of the house in ''The Onlooker'', 15 October 1910 (via Shrivenham Heritage Society)
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