Historic Buildings Research

Home
United Kingdom
Woodstock
Historic Buildings Research

Ellen Leslie researching the history of buildings for property/architecture professionals and private home owners

13/05/2025

Wonderful opportunity this last weekend to visit the Crystal Palace Subway in south London - recently restored back to its former glory and listed Grade II*

17/09/2023

Yesterday I had the honour to attend a party to celebrate the 615th birthday of Jincox Farmhouse. I was commissioned to research and write the history of this ancient house and yesterday signed copies of my tome for my client as well as descendants of 3 families that had lived in the house from the 1880s to the 2000s.

14/09/2023

Amazing 1850s gun tower (No. 1 The Thames) is coming up for auction. This Grade II structure is priced at just £150k

11/09/2023

A chance yesterday to visit the beautiful town of Woodstock in Oxfordshire

10/09/2023

Long time goal achieved today - to actually see one of the greatest archaeological finds in England … ‘The Alfred Jewel’ at The Ashmolean in Oxford. The museum itself describes it thus:

The Alfred Jewel is a masterpiece of goldsmith's work formed around a tear-shaped slice of rock crystal. Its inscription: AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN – 'Alfred ordered me to be made’ – connects the jewel with King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) making it among the most significant of royal relics.

Alfred ruled the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and is famous for opposing the Vikings and unifying southern England. He is also credited with being a learned man, commissioning translations of religious texts from Latin into Anglo-Saxon. Some of these manuscripts were distributed throughout his kingdom and were accompanied by aestels, or pointers, used to follow the text. It is thought that the Alfred Jewel may be one of these aestels. The dragon-like head at the base of the jewel holds in its mouth a cylindrical socket, within which the actual pointer – perhaps made of ivory – would have been held in place by a rivet. The figure represented in delicate colours in cloisonné enamel on a plaque protected by the rock crystal may represent the sense of sight, an appropriate image for an object intended to help with reading.

The jewel was ploughed up in a field at North Petherton, Somerset, in 1693. The site is only a few miles from Athelney Abbey, the stronghold in the marshes from which Alfred launched his counter-attack on the Great Army of the Vikings. This ultimately led to his crucial military victory at Edington in 878 and the expansion of his authority across the southern half of England.

22/08/2023

A favourite corner of Edinburgh - if you know the city I don’t think there are any prizes for knowing where this is.

20/08/2023

Good Luck Lionesses!

15/07/2023

This week I had the impromptu chance to check out The Randolph Hotel in Oxford. Beautiful interiors and delicious cocktails in The Morse Bar. Well worth a visit if you find yourself in the City of Dreaming Spires!

The building itself (which had a serious fire in 2015 is listed Grade II. The description says this:

BEAMONT STREET 1. 1485 (South Side) The Randolph Hotel SP 5106 NW 5/680 SP 5106 SW 8/680 II GV 2. Circa 1870. By W Wilkinson. In the Venetian Gothic style. Yellow brick with stone dressings. 4 storeys and attic, 3:5:3 bays to Beaumont Street, the side ones are set forward, the entrance in the centre. Pointed 2-light windows with engaged column between; oriels at the side on the 1st floor. Bands at each floor level. Bracketted eaves, tiled roof, gabled dormers. The side wings are one floor higher. Similar front to Magdalen Street. The West wing is Beaumont Street is a modern extension. Good staircase.

13/07/2023

The latest issue of is launched today with my article about how historic photographs influence the historical research process!

11/07/2023

One of my favourite corners of West Sussex - Amberley and North Stoke. Here is the C17 Manor House Farmhouse complete with Sussex flint dressing and a fancy later porch stuck on the front.
The listing description says this:

Group Value Grade II
Farmhouse. Dated 1664 on fireplace. Rubble with freestone dressings; double Roman tiled roof with coped raised verges and finials; rubble stacks. 2 storeys and attics in 2 steep, coped gables. 3 bays: 4 windows on ground floor and 3 on first, all 2- and 3-light casements in ovolo moulded mullions and surrounds and under dripmoulds. Central plank door in plain surround and under C20 hood. Later single storey, single bay wings to each side. Rear stair tower and 2 storey gabled wing. Interior: the ground floor room to the left has beams with an extraordinarily wide ovolo moulding and bar and run-out stops; the chamber above has a fine freestone (now painted) fireplace, moulded with a 4-centred head and a moulded overmantel and cornice, dated TMD 1664; extended collar beam trusses in the roof.

09/07/2023

Came across this little beauty in Hanwell in west London.
The Hermitage - Grade II listed - is a ‘cottage orne’ built in 1809 by rector George Glass. Pevsner described it as “a peach of an early 19th century Gothic thatched cottage …”
Love the resident cat on guard at the gate too!

Address

Woodstock

Website

http://www.ellenleslie.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Historic Buildings Research posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Historic Buildings Research:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Business in Woodstock?