Research in to the history of Oxwick has thrown up little but questions, and certainly no agreement among the aerodite historians that have visited. We are not historians, but have tried to piece together evidence from these aerodite historians, documenation from scouting round libraries, odd bits of building work found during our renovations, and from the remnants of classical dimensions seen in the stonework.
1702
The inscriptions on both the Coach House and the Main House suggest it was erected on or around either 1702 or 1722, but, according to documentation, it is likely to have been tenanted for most of its known history, and for at least 200 years.
1729
Mr John Oxwick is the documented instigator of the Oxwick build. He was Prime Warden of the Fishmongers Guild from 1722 to 1724. He has his coat of arms on the front of the house, and its design is at the Fishmongers Guild in London. Stepson of Captain Richard Beckford who had business and shipping interests in the West Indies, and thus needed a Bristol base, while mainly resident in London. Oxwick had some dispute over tithes in the area, along with a local widow, but he never married and died childless in 1729 when the property passed to his half nephew Beckford Kendall. It is quite plausible that the next, or maybe the first occupier of Oxwick were the Shipp family who were also Yeoman tenant farmers of Yate Court, maybe doing a deal to finish the building work, including the roof, and farm the land.
1911
The Yate Court Estate, including Oxwick, was owned by various absent landlords related to Robert, eventually being sold to 1911. In the 1930s the property was sold to The British Quarrying Company, and moved through various quarrying companies ownership, ending up with Cemex from whom we bought it.
1970
Coach House, in bad repair in the 19th century, lost its roof gullies in 1970s, which hastened its rot from there on in. The main house’s roof gullies were replaced by the tenant, in the 1970s. While this was not brilliant building work, it saved the house to an extent.
Today
Modern day Oxwick Farmhouse is a lifetime’s renovation project. It has been sadly neglected, and repairs in the past have been haphazard. Current Listed Building Regulations have become more and more stringent and make the project more expensive, more bureaucratic and thus more time-consuming. We keep trying to work towards an end goal, but have been immensely frustrated with the lack of ability to use of modern building practices to give this intriguing and quirky building a long term and, critically to us, sustainable future.
Our research has found no documentation to dispute the dates of construction, however, on uncovering the main chimney breast, and various other bits of plaster, it seems there may well have been something else here. Stone mullioned windows and strange bowed walls are indicators.
Our hypothesis on the earlier use of this site is that whatever stood here was distroyed during the civil war in the 17th century during endless skirmishes in this area between the Parliamentrians and the Royalists. It seems Yate Court was deemed a strong staging post and there is some evidence that it was destroyed by the Royalists to stop it being used by the Parliamentarians. Yate Court is now a ruin at the bottom of our wind turbine ridge, and it seems our site, strategic as it seems, could well have gone the same way. We have no documentary evidence to substanitate this.
As a tenanted property there is very little documentation for any building work, and, as tenants, the occupants had little incentive to invest heavily in any cultural building, and it has developed as a practical farming property, rather than with the aires and graces Robert Oxwick probably had in mind. It is described as “a curious blend of provincial baroque and gabled vernacular” on the “British Listed Buildings” website.
