Caversham Park

Caversham Park is a Victorian stately home with parkland in the suburb of Caversham, on the outskirts of Reading, England. Historically it was in Oxfordshire, but since 1911 it has been in Berkshire.

Originally, Caversham Manor was a fortified manor house or castle, probably nearer the Thames than the present house. It was the home of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Protector of the Realm. Later it was occupied by the Earls of Warwick. In 1542, it was bought by Sir Francis Knollys, the treasurer of Queen Elizabeth I. However, he did not move here till over forty years later, when he completely rebuilt the house slightly to the north. He also had homes in Reading to the south and at Greys Court, near Rotherfield Greys to the north. Sir Francis' son, William Knollys, the Earl of Banbury, entertained Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Anne of Denmark here.

Later it became home to the Royalist Earl of Craven. However, during the Civil War, the house was confiscated and used to imprison Charles I for a while. Following the Civil War, it was demolished because of its poor state of repair.

William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan started to have the house rebuilt in 1718. As a friend of the Duke of Marlborough, he tried to rival the gardens at Blenheim Palace. The house burnt down in the late 18th century and was replaced with a smaller house. This was enlarged by Major Charles Marsack in the 1780s, in the Greek temple style.

The present building was erected by the Pereira family after a fire in 1850. However, there was another fire in 1926. The house was home to The Oratory School under the principal Edward Pereira ('E.P.'). The school moved in 1942 when Caversham Park was requisitioned to become a World War II BBC listening station. It is now the BBC World monitoring station. BBC Radio Berkshire is also based here.

Caversham Park Village was developed in the 1960s on some of the parkland.

External links

* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/caversham_park.html Oxfordshire History: Caversham Park]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/caversham_cast.html Oxfordshire History: Caversham Castle]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/caversham_ham.html Caversham Hamlets: Caversham Park Village & Lower Caversham]
* [http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/ BBC Monitoring, Caversham Park]