Cornbury Park is an estate near Charlbury, Oxfordshire. It comprises about 5000 acres, mostly farmland and woods, including a remnant of the Wychwood Forest, and was the original venue for the Cornbury Music Festival and later the Wilderness Festival. Cornbury used to be a royal hunting estate. The park is first mentioned in the Domesday book as a “demesne forest of the king”, which was used for the hunting of deer.
Cornbury Park is currently the home of Robin Cayzer, 3rd Baron Rotherwick, a Conservative hereditary peer who runs it as a business. Cayzer has developed business units for rental there, and for several years sponsored the Cornbury Music Festival and later the Wilderness Festival there.
Cornbury House is a two-storey, eleven-bay Grade I listed English country house. Built in the late 16th century, it was enlarged and altered several times, first in 1632-33 by Nicholas Stone for Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby. The frontage was by the mason and sculptor Timothy Strong. Further alterations were carried out in 1663-77 by Hugh May who built the east front, the stables, and the chapel (1663–68) for Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. In 1901-6, John Belcher removed addition of c. 1850, and altered the house further for Vernon Watney. Belcher’s work was mostly demolished c. 1972.
