Brightwell Manor is a country house in the village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire, England.[1] The back dates to around the mid-seventeenth century, or possibly earlier as there is a date of 1605 on the rear. The front was built in the mid-eighteenth century.[2] It has been a Grade II listed building since 1952. It is owned by British former prime minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie.[3] [4]
In 1933, the house was purchased by William Ralph Inge, a theologian thrice-nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.[1] [5] Inge, known as the ’’Gloomy Dean’’ on account of his pessimistic views, including supporting eugenics and opposing democracy, served as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral from 1911 to 1934.[6] [7] His wife wrote in her diary "It is a most attractive house but rather small." and that she had written to Paul Edward Paget and his partner John Seely (later John Seely, 2nd Baron Mottistone) about adding to it. They wanted £2,000, and she wrote that "We really must try to cut them down a bit."[8] William Inge died there in 1954 (and is buried next door in the churchyard), and the family owned the house until 1971, when his sons sold it.[1] From 1971, it had been owned by the same family, until former Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to buy it in February 2023 for a reported £4million.[1]
In 1952, Brightwell Manor was Grade II listed by English Heritage. The house probably dates back to the mid-17th century, and the front is mid-18th century. An extension was added by Inge in the 1950s. Pevsner describes Brightwell as a "plain late 18th century brick box", but notes the dating of 1605 on the earlier, rear portion of the house.[9]
Brightwell Manor has nine bedrooms and is 8128square feet in total.[1] The house sits in 5acres of grounds, with a moat fed by a natural spring surrounding it on three sides.[10] The study includes a mural painted by the neo-Romanticist George Warner Allen.[10]
The Buildings of England
. 2010 . . New Haven, US and London . 210 . 978-0-300-12662-4.