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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, c. {{Circa|1967}}]]
 
==History==
This ancient historical 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>{{Waybackcite web |title=Shrivenham |url=http://www.spaceagency.co.uk/villages/v_detail.php?id=805 Discover|url-status=dead Oxfordshire villages|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061014064447/http://www.spaceagency.co.uk/villages/v_detail.php?id=805 Shrivenham|archive-date=2006-10-14 |access-date=200610140644472006-10-14 |website=Space property agency}} cite: {{cite book |author=Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes |yearurl=1999https://archive.org/details/newoxfordshirevi0000unse |title=The New Oxfordshire Village Book|location=Newbury |publisher=Countryside Books and the O.F.W.I. |year=1999 |isbn=1-85306-090-9 |location=Newbury |url-access=registration}}</ref>
 
{{quoteblockquote|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>}}
 
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) {{Waybackcite web |title=Henry 'Harry, the Regicide' Colonel MARTEN |url=http://www.familyhistoryarticles.com/Article/Henry--Harry--the-Regicide--Colonel-MARTEN/5 |titleurl-status=Henrydead '|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828045753/http://www.familyhistoryarticles.com/Article/Henry--Harry, --the -Regicide' --Colonel -MARTEN/5 |archive-date=200808280457532008-08-28 |access-date= |website=Family History Articles}}</ref> On the son Henry Marten's death, the lands were sold to Sir George Pratt.<ref>{{cite journal |editor-first=Dan |editor-last=Pearl |date=Fall 2003 |title=Searching for Mr. Becket |journal=The NEFFA News |volume=29 |number=3 |publisher=the New England Folk Festival Association |url=http://www.neffa.org/news/2003_fall.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=29 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928151229/http://www.neffa.org/news/2003_fall.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
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 Estatesestates. 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.
 
== House ==
In 1938, Beckett Hall was acquired by the War Office for use as an Artillery School. During [[World War II]], it became an Officer Cadet Training Unit with up to 10,000 US troops based in the area, run and operated by [[United States Army Forces in the British Isles]] or [[European Theater of Operations United States Army]] (ETOUSA). In 1946, Beckett Hall became home to the "Royal Military College of Science", now known as [[Defence College of Management and Technology]], and served as an officers mess, then as the college library. The College has since vacated the Hall, moving to a new building on the DCMT campus, and the Hall has become a management centre. A modern extension has been built providing accommodation.
The present house was built in 1830–1831 for the [[William Barrington, 6th Viscount Barrington|6th Viscount Barrington]] and is near the site of an earlier large manor house which was partly burnt down during the [[English Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Old Beckett House |url=http://www.shrivenhamheritagesociety.co.uk/listing.asp?listID=1514 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Shrivenham Heritage Society}}</ref><ref name="vch">{{Cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp531-543 |title=A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4 |date=1924 |publisher=University of London |editor-last1=Page |editor-first1=William |editor-link1=William Page (historian) |series=[[Victoria County History]] |pages=531–543 |chapter=Parishes: Shrivenham |access-date=19 June 2022 |editor-last2=Ditchfield |editor-first2=P. H. |editor-link2=Peter Ditchfield |via=British History Online}}</ref> The first designs were by the architect [[William Atkinson (architect)|William Atkinson]], but were redrawn by Thomas Lidell, brother of the Viscountess. It has two storeys and attics, and is in [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] revival style with [[Mullion|mullioned]] windows, gabled roofs and tall chimney-stacks. The east (entrance) front and the south front have five bays, in the latter case with the two outer bays projected forward. The entrance is flanked by full-height octagonal buttresses, capped by stone cupolas. Inside are decorative plaster ceilings and fine marble fireplace surrounds, several of them from the 18th century and perhaps from the previous house.<ref name=":0" /> To the north are a two-storey servants' block and modern additions.
 
== Military use ==
The House is a Grade II listed building;<ref>{{cite web|author=Author N/A |date=21 July 1982 |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=250588 |title=IoE Number: 250588. Location: Royal Military College of Science, Beckett Hall, Faringdon Road (north side) Shrivenham, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire}}</ref> The China House in the grounds, traditionally seen as the work of [[Inigo Jones]] is a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite web|last=Belcher |first=Tim |date=6 November 2007 |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=250589 |title=IoE Number: 250589: Location: China House to west of Beckett Hall, Faringdon Road, Shrivenham, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire}}</ref>▼
{{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 |last1=Maw |first1=Neil B. |last2=Moss |first2=Vivien |date=June 2020 |title=Beckett and the Barringtons |url=http://www.shrivenhamheritagesociety.co.uk/downloads/beckett-and-the-barringtons-complete-low.pdf |access-date=19 June 2022 |website=Shrivenham Heritage Society}}</ref> From 1939 it was the home of 133 Officer Cadet Training Unit,<ref>{{cite book |last=Moberg |first=S.H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htPLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT220 |title=Gunfire!: British Artillery in World War II |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4738-9562-1 |page=220 |access-date=19 June 2022}}</ref> and in 1945–6 the American University for US military personnel.{{cn|date=May 2023}}
 
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}}
 
== Designations ==
▲The Househouse is a [[Grade II listed building]];<ref name=":0">{{cite web|author=Author N/A NHLE|date=21 July 1982 |urlnum=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=2505881183028 |titledesc=IoE Number: 250588. Location: Royal Military College of Science, Beckett Hall, Faringdon Road (north side) Shrivenham, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire|accessdate=17 November 2008}}</ref> Thethe China House in the grounds, traditionally seen as the work of [[Inigo Jones]], is alisted at Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite web|last=Belcher |first=Tim NHLE|date=6 November 2007 |urlnum=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=250589 1048793|titledesc=IoE Number: 250589: Location: China House to west of Beckett Hall, Faringdon Road, Shrivenham, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire|accessdate=17 November 2008|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>
 
==Notable residents==
Notable residents include:
*[[Henry Marten (regicide)|Henry Marten]] - English– politician, [[regicide]] and resident of Beckett Hall
*[[John Wildman]] - English– politician and republican agitator
*[[John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington]] - English– statesman and 1st Viscount Barrington, resident of Beckett, ShrivenhamHall
*[[William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington]] - British– politician and, eldest son of John Shute Barrington
*[[Samuel Barrington]] - British– Admiral and, fourth son of John Shute Barrington
*[[Shute Barrington]], – [[Bishop of Llandaff]], [[Bishop of Salisbury|of Salisbury]] and [[Bishop of Durham|of Durham]]; younger son of John Shute Barrington
*[[Robert Whitehead]] – engineer, designer of the self-propelled torpedo; rented Beckett Hall in his last years and died there in 1905<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moss |first=Vivien |date=March 2020 |title=Robert Whitehead |url=http://www.shrivenhamheritagesociety.co.uk/downloads/robert-whitehead-mini-presentation-2.pdf |access-date=19 June 2022 |website=Shirvenham Heritage Society}}</ref>
*[[Robert Whitehead]] - English engineer, designer of the Whitehead torpedo
 
==Legacy==
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==Further reading==
*{{cite web|ref=harv |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)
 
{{coord |51.6006|-1.6449|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}}
 
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Oxfordshire]]▼
 
▲[[Category:Grade III listed buildings in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Country houses in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:History of Berkshire]]
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