Glympton Park is a former deer park at Glympton, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It includes Glympton House (an 18th century country house) and has a 2,000 acres (810 ha) estate including the village of Glympton, its Norman parish church of St. Mary, 21 stone cottages and 167 acres (68 ha) of parkland.
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Glympton House is the successor to a manor house that had occupied the site since the 16th century or earlier.[1] The property was owned by John Cupper and his wife, Audrey Peyto, and their descendants from 1547 to 1632. William Wheate bought the manor in 1633 and either he or one of his successors had the house remodelled later in the 17th century.[1] By the early part of the 18th century it had an H-shaped plan with north and south courtyards each flanked on three sides by wings of the house.[1]
In the first half of the 18th century either Sir Thomas Wheate, 1st Baronet or Sir Thomas Wheate, 2nd Baronet had the house remodelled with a Georgian elevation of seven bays.[1] By the early part of the 19th century the western range of the old house had been demolished.[1] When the 2nd Baronet died without a male heir in 1746, the baronetcy passed to his brother Sir George Wheate, 3rd Baronet but Glympton Park became the dower house of his widow Mary.[1]
George Henry Barnett, the nephew of Sir Jacob Wheate, 5th Baronet, inherited Glympton Park in 1846.[1] Barnett removed the east and west wings from the main front, re-faced the main front in mid-18th century style and added an Italianate kitchen block on the east side.[1] Barnett moved the main entrance to the west side,[1] and gave the new entrance a Tuscan porch.[2] Glympton Park remained in the Barnett family until Benjamin Barnett sold it in 1944.[1]
Glympton Park's current owner is a trust created by Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the nephew to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and long-time Saudi ambassador to the US, bought the estate at its lowered price of £8 million in 1992.[3] Prince Bandar is said to have spent £42 million in restoring Glympton House. The driveway has obstacles and bulletproof glass to stop terrorists.[3] He has transformed the house and estate since that date, buying another 500 acres (200 ha) of land and various houses within the estate, including the old rectory and Ludwell, reconstructing the house, laying out new gardens, replanting the park, establishing a pheasant shoot and developing the farm.