'Woodlands'

Situation
On the east side of Woodgreen, Witney, adjacent to the Woodgreen factory.

History
This grand Victorian domestic house on Woodgreen was built in 1860 for Richard Early (the son of Richard Early, 1795-1856), who at the time was owner of Worsham Mill in Witney. He had his initials and the date carved into one of the beams of the house on completion [1]. On his rather premature death his younger brother Henry took over the house and made blankets in the Woodgreen factory next door. His blanket business eventually failed and after this he was forced to move to a smaller house on the other side of Woodgreen [2]. Charles William Early then took over Woodlands; he was Chairman of Early's from 1910 until he died in 1943.

Clare Sumner