Watlington Park lies on the hills above Watlington. It was originally a royal park, but was sold to William Stonor of Stonor by Charles I in 1632. The Stonor family (who are one of the most prominent recusant families in this county) then built a house there, which was sometimes occupied by younger sons of the family, sometimes by tenants.
In 1750, it seems that the family was in some financial difficulty (see 1D/29 below), and the decision was taken to sell all the Stonor estates at
Watlington as a separate unit. In 1753, this property was sold to John Tilson, who already owned property at Hampton Poyle and Hampton Gay.
John Tilson seems to have rebuilt Watlington Park largely as it is today (some 19th century extensions were removed in 1954). Once settled there, he began to buy up other land in Watlington and Britwell Salome, and thus enlarged the estate considerably.
John Tilson died in 1779, and his lands were inherited by his eldest son John Henry Tilson. John Henry Tilson had no surviving sons, and after his death in 1836, the property passed to his only daughter Maria Susan Tilson. Maria Susan married Thomas Shaen Carter, and had many children by him. The family continued to live at Watlington Park, and after Maria and Thomas' deaths in 1868 and 1875 respectively, the property was divided up between their children.
In 1880, Thomas and Maria Carter's surviving children combined to sell Watlington Park to John Frederic Symonds Jeune. In 1910 he sold it in turn to Arthur Henry Renshaw. After his death in 1921, Renshaw's widow sold the estate to Oliver Brett (later Lord Esher), whose descendants have lived there ever since.
The present collection of papers about Watlington Park consists almost entirely of title deeds, which are arranged as follows:
E31/1D: Copies of deeds concerning Watlington Park awhile it was owned by the Stonor family.
E31/2D-35D: Deeds relating to other properties in Watlington and Britwell Salome (including parts of the manor of Watlington) bought by John Tilson and John Henry Tilson between 1765 and 1813.
E31/36D: Deeds concerning the whole Watlington Park estate (with the additional properties) after its purchase by John Tilson.
E31/37D: Deed concerning property in Kent, found with this collection, but apparently unconnected.
These papers were deposited with Oxfordshire Archives in May 1995, with the Accession Number 3966.
Catalogued by Robin Darwall-Smith in September 1995.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, Vol. VIII (Lewknor and
Pyrton Hundreds), Oxford 1964, pp.213- 214 and 222-223.
NOTE: All dates are written in the new style, so that although a pre-1752
document may be dated, say 13 Jan 1695, it will be dated here as 13 Jan 1696.