Dorney Court

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Dorney Court is an early Tudor manor house, dating from around 1500, located in the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire. (grid reference SU9279).

Dorney Court has always been the manor house of Dorney village. In fact the location of a significant house on the present site is attested to by a recording in the Doomsday Book which notes that a certain Milo Crispin lived there. Based on this evidence it can be assumed that a house has stood on the site since before the Norman conquest. The Palmer family have lived at Dorney Court for more than 450 years with the house passing from father to son in direct succession ever since Sir Thomas Palmer first moved to the house in the sixteenth century. On first appearances the building appears to be entirely medieval, but in fact some of the exterior is a Victorian reconstruction. The remodelling of the house was undertaken at the end of the nineteenth century and the original bricks were restored to the front facade of the house. The interior layout of the house is little changed from 1500. The oldest part of the house is the panelled parlour, which contains some very fine examples of antique furniture.^[1] The great hall has numerous family portraits and contains linenfold panelling brought from Faversham Abbey, in times past it was used to hold the Manor court and it is still the site of the annual Commoners meeting.^[1]

Dorney Court is privately owned and lived in by Jill Palmer and her sons: James, Freddie and Leopold Palmer.

The house has been open to the public since 1981.