Shirburn Castle

Shirburn Castle is a Grade I listed, moated castle located at the village of Shirburn, near Watlington, Oxfordshire. Originally constructed in the fourteenth century, it was renovated and remodelled in the Georgian era by the first Earl of Macclesfield who made it his family seat, and altered further in the early nineteenth century. The Earls of Macclesfield remained in residence until 2004, and the castle is still owned by the Macclesfield family company. It formerly contained an important, early eighteenth century library which, along with several valuable paintings, remained in the ownership of the 9th Earl and were largely dispersed at auction following his departure from the property; notable among these items were George Stubbs's 1768 painting "Brood Mares and Foals", a record setter for the artist at auction in 2010, the Macclesfield Psalter, and personal correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton.

The castle was constructed around 1378 on the site of a previous moated grange. The present, still moated, three storey building has a quadrangular form with four rounded corner towers. Rendered on the exterior , it has been stated as being the earliest brick building in Oxfordshire, although Emery, cited below, believes that the original construction was more likely built entirely in limestone, with the brick "casing" added only when the castle was remodelled in 1720 in the Georgian style.

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