Oakley Hall, Hampshire

The history of the manor, originally known as Hall or Hall Place, dates from 1299 when Robert atte Hall and John atte Hall were its free tenants under the manor of Deane, Hampshire. The property changed hands several times over the centuries, coming into the ownership of George Wither in 1620, who added to it "estates in five other manors as well as the advowsons of two churches".{{cite book|last1=Cruickshanks|first1=Eveline|last2=Hayton|first2=David W.|last3=Handley|first3=Stuart|title=The House of Commons: 1690-1715|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_92tjio4vIC&pg=PA905|date=1 January 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77221-1|pages=905–}} The estate then fell into the hands of the Bramston family.{{cite book|last=Gilroy|first=Amanda|title=Green and Pleasant Land: English Culture and the Romantic Countryside|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0m-JRNFaC0C&pg=PA116|accessdate=22 June 2013|year=2004|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-429-1438-4|page=116}} Wither Bramston (born 1753),{{cite book|last1=Withers|first1=Thomas|last2=Bigg-Wither|first2=Reginald F.|last3=Withers|first3=Thomas|author4=Reginald Fitz Hugh Bigg-Wither|title=A History Of The Wither Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fKKZCh9qiAoC&pg=PA87|edition=Public domain|year=1907|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4251-3783-0|pages=87–}} demolished the old building and completed Oakley Hall in 1795,[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56788 William Page (ed.), "A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4"] (1911). Retrieved 21 June 2013. after his marriage to Mary Chute of The Vyne.{{cite book|last=Faye|first=Deirdre Le|title=Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFooE6ILe28C&pg=PA14|year=2003|publisher=Frances Lincoln ltd|isbn=978-0-7112-2278-6|pages=14–}} Notable residents have included William Wither Bramston Beach (1826–1901), a Conservative politician, and the early amateur photographer Jane Martha St. John (1801–1882) who lived with her husband in the estate's Oakley Cottage.[http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=DServeA.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=2762&dsqSearch=%28AltRefNo%3D%27D2455%27%29 "Beach family of Oakley and Deane (Hampshire): William [Hicks] Beach (1783-1856) and Jane Henrietta [nee Browne] his wife (1804-1831)"], Ref. D2445/F4/1, Gloucestershire Archives. Retrieved 18 June 2013.

Oakley Hall is located {{convert|10|km}} west of Basingstoke. It lies to the east of the two main churches in Oakley, St Leonards and Oakley Church, off the main road through the village. Situated in a wooded park of {{convert|198|ha}}, it stretches from Deane to Church Oakley Parish.[http://hantsgtrg.pbworks.com/w/page/16630079/Oakley%20Hall%20Hotel "Oakley Hall Hotel"], Hampshire Gardens Trust Research. Retrieved 21 June 2013.[http://www.oakleyhall-park.com/index.php "Oakley Hall, Hampshire"]. Retrieved 21 June 2013.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/southeast-england/hampshire/hotels/oakley-hall|title= Oakley Hall|accessdate=22 June 2013|publisher=Lonely Planet}}

A national school, accommodating 120 students, was built in nearby Oakley on the property of W. W. Bramston Beach in 1855 and by 1872, it was expanded. A headmaster's cottage and a children's playground were further additions. In 1940, Oakley Hall itself was used as a boarding school known as Hilsea College for the children of naval officers.[http://www.paranormaltours.com/site_in_detail.php?siteid=Oak81 "Oakley Hall"], The Haunted Database. Retrieved 21 June 2013. It 1973, it was reported that the estate included Tadley Place and Wyford Farm.{{cite book|last=Doubleday|first=Herbert Arthur|title=The Victoria history of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WUo-AQAAIAAJ|year=1973|publisher=Published for the University of London Institute of Historical Research|isbn=978-0-7129-0594-7|page=227}}

File:Map Steventon Rectory and Oakley Hall 3.jpg

Jane Austen lived with her parents at the Rectory near the Church in Steventon (shown on the map). Oakley Hall was one of her closest neighbours and she often liked to walk to there to see her friends the Bramstons.George Holbert Tucker 1995 “Jane Austen the Woman: Some Biographical Insights”, p. 34. At this time there were three Bramstons living at the Hall – Wither Bramston, his wife Mary and his unmarried sister Augusta Bramston. In her letters to her sister Cassandra Jane recalled how she enjoyed her visits. She mentioned that she ate some sandwiches with mustard and praised Wither Bramston’s porter (beer). She also admired Mary Bramston’s transparencies which were decorations for the window.Constance Hill 1902 “Jane Austen: Her Homes and Her Friends”, p. 73. Online reference According to a biographer of Jane Austen this hobby was recalled years later when she described three similar transparencies as adornments of Fanny Price’s East Room at Mansfield Park.

In the same letter she mentioned that Mary Bramston promised to give her two medicinal plants called heartsease “one all yellow and one all purple”. Then all of them walked down to the village of Oakley where they bought ten pairs of worsted stockings and a shift.{{Cite book |last=Austen-Leigh |first=William |url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924013208719 |title=Jane Austen, her life and letters; |date=1914 |publisher=New York, E.P. Dutton |others=Cornell University Library}}

The Austens had no carriage and therefore when attending functions they were often invited by their neighbours to travel with them. Since Oakley Hall was so close the Bramstons usually extended this invitation. In one of her letters Jane outlines in detail a Ball that has just been held at Basingstoke. She says that “a very civil note of invitation for me came from Mrs Bramston who wrote I believe as soon as she knew of the Ball.{{Cite book |last=Selwyn |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFmIt5EEoKMC&dq=%22jane+austen%22+bramston+ball&pg=PA146 |title=Jane Austen and Leisure |date=1998-07-01 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-8264-4667-1 |language=en}}

The old hall is an elegantly decorated building.{{cite book|author=William White|title=History, gazetteer, and directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-IHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA207|accessdate=22 June 2013|year=1878|pages=207–}} It is a four star hotel with facilities for small conferences.

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.oakleyhall-park.com/index_history.php Oakley Hall, official site]

Category:Hotels in Hampshire

Category:Defunct schools in Hampshire

Category:Country houses in Hampshire

Category:Residential buildings completed in 1795

Category:Country house hotels