Cogges Manor Farm

Situation
Next to the church of St Mary's, Cogges, to the east of the River Windrush and Witney.

History

Cogges Manor Farm, view from the rear showing the dairy (to the left).

The large manor at Cogges, which was first established in the 11th century, is now a working museum that shows how life would have been on a farm in Victorian times. The fabric of the house has been subject to many additions and remodellings from the 13th to the 19th century and it has a very complex history. It was known to be a manorial centre from at least the 11th century onwards [1].

The first known owner of Cogges was a man named Wadard who had extensive estates in West Oxfordshire. He appears on the Bayeux Tapestry riding a horse in armour prior to going into the Battle of Hastings [2].

Cogges has an important connection with the woollen industry through the Blake family. In 1667 Francis Blake, a woollen draper of Highgate in London, purchased Cogges for £8000; either he or his son William rebuilt part of the house at about this time [3]. After William's death the house passed eventually to a cousin, Daniel Blake who was also a woollen merchant, this time of Covent Garden in London. In due course it came into the hands of the Mawle family, who sold it to Oxfordshire County Council in 1972 after which it was turned into a museum.

Clare Sumner