Built / Designed For: Harcourt family
House & Family History: Stanton Harcourt was originally built as an early unfortified manor house; most of the medieval house was demolished circa 1750 when the Harcourt family moved to Nuneham House.
Collections: The sale of some contents negotiated by Christie's in the 1980s included 10 miniatures, three by Nicholas Hilliard and one by Isaac Oliver. In 1987 the Victoria & Albert Museum purchased nine of the miniatures and the National Portrait Gallery purchased one. Circa 2004 Queen Elizabeth II purchased, for the Royal Collection, part of a late 18th century Sévres desert service that had been in the collection at Stanton Harcourt for at least a century (the queen already owned the tea and coffee sets from the service). The service, which was made in 1789 to celebrate the return to health of George III (the king's illness was thought to be madness at the time, but is now believed to have been an attack of porphyria), features a grisaille profile of the king (only on the plates). This delicate cream and light brown service was chosen by Queen Charlotte for use at the most lavish of the parties that celebrated the king's recovery: that hosted by the Spanish ambassador on June 2, 1789 in the Rotunda of Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea. The desert service was displayed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1985-86 as part of "The Treasure Houses of Britain" exhibition.
Country Life: XC, 628, 674, 1941.
Title: Treasure Houses of Britain, The - SOFTBACK
Author: Jackson-Stops, Gervase (Editor)
Year Published: 1985
Reference: pg. 474
Publisher: Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art (New Haven: Yale University Press)
ISBN: 0300035530
Book Type: Softback
Title: In Celebration: The Art of the Country House
Author: Hearn, Karen; Upstone, Robert; Waterfield, Giles
Year Published: 1998
Publisher: London: Tate Gallery Publishing
ISBN: 1854372777
Book Type: Softback
Title: Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, The
Author: Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus
Year Published: 1974
Publisher: London: Penguin Books
ISBN: 0140710450
Book Type: Hardback
Title: Disintegration of a Heritage: Country Houses and their Collections, 1979-1992, The
Author: Sayer, Michael
Year Published: 1993
Publisher: Norfolk: Michael Russell (Publishing)
ISBN: 0859551970
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade II*
Park Listed: Not Listed
Current Seat / Home of: Gascoigne family
Past Seat / Home of: Thomas Harcourt, 15th century; Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, 18th century; Harcourt family here from the 12th century until 1756.
Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust
Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home
House Open to Public: No
Phone: 01865-880-117
Historic Houses Member: No