Gunfield

{{Short description|1877 house in Oxford, England}} {{Infobox building | name = Gunfield | image = Gunfield, Norham Gardens, Oxford - 20240826 150204.jpg | image_size = 220px | image_alt = Photograph of Gunfield | image_caption = Front facade of the house | coordinates = {{coord|51|45|51.181|N| 1|15|17.104|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | architectural_style = Gothic Revival | alternate_names = 19 Norham Gardens | status = St Edmund Hall Graduate Centre | building_type = House | location_town = Oxford | location_country = United Kingdom | address = 19 Norham Gardens, Oxford OX2 6PS, UK | years_built = 1876–7 | groundbreaking_date = | construction_start_date = 1876 | construction_stop_date = | topped_out_date = | completion_date = 1877 | opened_date = | inauguration_date = | relocated_date = | renovation_date = | closing_date = | demolished_date = | cost = | owner = Mary Jephson;<br/> Norah Jephson;<br/> Lady Margaret Hall;<br/> St Edmund Hall | height = | material = Red brick with stone dressing | size = | floor_count = 4 | floor_area =  | architect = Frederick Codd | architecture_firm = | parking = | public_transit = | website =  | references = | footnotes = }} '''Gunfield''' is a large detached Gothic Revival house in Norham Gardens, North Oxford, a Victorian suburb of Oxford, England.<ref name="historicengland">{{cite web| url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/13186/06 | title=Gunfield | publisher=Historic England | location=UK | access-date=25 August 2024 }}</ref> It was designed by the architect Frederick Codd (1799–1881) and completed in 1877. It is located on the Norham Manor estate, backing onto the University Parks, at the junction of Norham Gardens and Fyfield Road, close to Lady Margaret Hall, an Oxford college. The house was Grade II listed in 1992.<ref name="britishlistedbuildings">{{cite web| url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101047043-gunfield-oxford-north-ward | title=Gunfield: A Grade II Listed Building in Oxford, Oxfordshire | website=British Listed Buildings | location=UK | access-date=25 August 2024 }}</ref>

The house is built in red brick with stone dressings.<ref name="victorianweb">{{cite web| url=https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/homes/36.html | title=Gunfield, 19 Norham Gardens | work=The Victorian Web | access-date=25 August 2024 }}</ref> It has tall chimneys and gables separated by a tower at the front, and with a tiled roof. There are two main storeys, attic rooms, and a semi-basement (four storeys in total). A loggia with a balustrade was added to the rear in the early 20th century.<ref name="victorianweb-b">{{cite web| url=https://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/homes/36b.html | title=Rear view of Gunfield, 19 Norham Gardens, North Oxford | work=The Victorian Web | access-date=25 August 2024 }}</ref> The house included fireplaces with William De Morgan tiles.<ref name="seh93-21-23" />

==History== The first leaseholder was the philanthropist Mary Jephson (1823–1892),<ref name="hinchcliffe92">{{cite book| first=Tanis | last=Hinchcliffe | title=North Oxford | date=1992 | publisher=Harvard University Press | isbn=0-300-05184-0 | page=233 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/genealogy/records/mary-jephson-24-268gc5 | title=Mary JEPHSON | website=ancestry.co.uk | location=UK | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> who named the house "Gunfield". She lived there with her mother Ann Sarah Jephson (1796–1878), widow of the Rev. William Jephson, M.A., and some of her sisters.<ref name="stsepulchres">{{cite web| url=https://www.stsepulchres.org.uk/burials/jephson_ann.html | title=Mrs Ann Sarah JEPHSON, née Armroid (1796–1878) | website=stsepulchres.org.uk | publisher=St Sepulchre's Cemetery | location=UK | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> She died at Gunfield in 1892 and was buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford. Her sister Norah Jephson, also a philanthropist, who was still living at Gunfield, died in 1899 at the home of her brother-in-law Harry Webb in Winchester. Norah Jephson left Gunfield in her will to her friend Elizabeth Wordsworth (1840–1932), the first Principal of the nearby women-only Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) during 1879–1909, for the use of the Hall.<ref name="stsepulchres" />

thumb|left|Rear view of the house, including the loggia In 1909, a chapel was added to the site, designed by NW & GA Harrison.<ref name="planning">{{cite web| url=https://docs.planning.org.uk/20220905/8/RFOO4OMF19P00/ndithc9avm8rz6nc.pdf | title=History of the Buildings: 19 Normal Gardens | website=docs.planning.org.uk | publisher=Wright & Wright Architects | location=UK | date=2022 | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> In 1915, the house and chapel were joined by Arthur Hamilton Moberly. A loggia looking onto the rear garden was also added by Moberly. An extension and garage were built by the former chapel (later a music room), and the main chapel window was changed during the 1930s.<ref name="planning" />

In the 20th century for almost five decades, Gunfield was the home of the Deneke family, including Helena Deneke (1878–1973), a bursar and German tutor at Lady Margaret Hall, and her younger sister, the pianist Margaret Deneke (1882–1969). The sisters held musical soirees at Gunfield,<ref name="the-times">{{cite news| title=Miss H. C. Deneke | newspaper=The Times | date=1 October 1973 }}</ref> attended by guests including Albert Einstein<ref name="robinson24">{{cite book| first=Andrew | last=Robinson | author-link=W. Andrew Robinson | title=Einstein in Oxford | date=2024 | publisher=Bodleian Library Publishing | isbn=978-1-85124-638-0 | pages=44–50 }}</ref> and Albert Schweitzer.<ref name="curtis15">{{cite book| first=Mavis | last=Curtis | title=The WI: A Centenary History | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEdpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PP78 | date=2015 | publisher=Amberley Publishing | isbn=978-1-4456-1704-6 | pages=78–79 }}</ref>

[[File:Sign, Gunfield, Norham Gardens, Oxford - 20240826 145910.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Aerial view of Gunfield on a sign for the Norham St Edmund development by St Edmund Hall]] By the 1970s, the windows on the south side of the chapel had been blocked off by a fireplace and chimney, with the space occupied by a college Fellow.<ref name="planning" /> In 1979, Gunfield came into the possession of St Edmund Hall, another Oxford college, which used the former chapel and music room as its Middle Common Room (MCR) for graduate students.<ref name="seh93-21-23">{{cite magazine| url=https://issuu.com/stedmundhall/docs/st_edmund_hall_magazine_1992-93 | title=Gunfield | first=Geoffrey | last=Bourne-Taylor | magazine=St Edmund Hall Magazine (1992–93) | publisher=St Edmund Hall, Oxford | date=1993 | pages=21–23 | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> In 1992, Howes, Montgomery & Allen refurbished Gunfield for St Edmund Hall. The Rhodes Trust donated £25,000 towards the refurbishment.<ref name="seh93-8">{{cite magazine| url=https://issuu.com/stedmundhall/docs/st_edmund_hall_magazine_1992-93 | title=Gifts to the College | magazine=St Edmund Hall Magazine (1992–93) | publisher=St Edmund Hall, Oxford | date=1993 | page=8 | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> The work undertaken included an extension to the link building, enclosure of the previously open verandah, rebuilding of the chimneys and roof, and new windows. At the same time, the building was Grade II listed.<ref name="britishlistedbuildings" />

{{clear left}} ==Present day== The building is now a Graduate Centre for St Edmund Hall, one of the Oxford University colleges, along with other houses in Norham Gardens used for its student accommodation.<ref name="seh">{{cite web| url=https://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/college-life/accommodation/accommodation-for-postgraduates | title=Accommodation for Postgraduates | publisher=St Edmund Hall, Oxford | location=UK | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> {{Asof|2023}}, the college is developing the site and the adjacent 17 Norham Gardens<ref name="oxford-council">{{cite web| url=https://mycouncil.oxford.gov.uk/documents/s71502/22-01842-FUL%2017-19%20Norham%20Gardens%20Report.pdf | title=Application number: 22/01842/FUL | publisher=Oxford City Planning Committee, Oxford City Council | location=UK | date=24 January 2023 | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref> as "Norham St Edmund" (NSE). During the initial archaeological search, a Roman copper-alloy brooch dating from around 40AD to 200AD was discovered on the site.<ref name="sdc">{{cite web| url=https://www.sdc.co.uk/news/exciting-news-from-sdc-s-norham-st-edmund-site-at-st-edmund-hall-oxford/ | title=Exciting News from SDC's "Norham St Edmund' Site at St Edmund Hall, Oxford | website=sdc.co.uk | publisher=SDC | location=UK | date=20 June 2024 | access-date=26 August 2024 }}</ref>

{{clear right}} ==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{commonscat-inline}}

Category:1877 establishments in England Category:Houses completed in 1877 Category:Grade II listed buildings in Oxford Category:Grade II listed houses in Oxfordshire Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Oxfordshire Category:Brick buildings and structures in the United Kingdom Category:Mansions Category:Chapels of the University of Oxford Category:Former churches in Oxford Category:Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Category:St Edmund Hall, Oxford