Rycote

Rycote is a hamlet 2.5mi southwest of Thame in Oxfordshire.Saint Michael's chapelRichard and Sybil Quartermayne, lord and lady of the manor of Rycote, founded Saint Michael's chapel as a chantry in 1449. It is a Perpendicular Gothic building with a chancel, nave and west tower. It retains original 15th-century wooden fittings including pews, stalls and a screen.In the 17th century the chapel was ornamented with a west gallery, altar rails, a reredos and other fittings. The first reredos, dated 1610, is now damaged and in 1974 was kept under the tower. It has been replaced by a second reredos dated 1682.Rycote HouseCarved masonry has been found from a substantial house that stood here in the 14th century. Rycote House was a great Tudor country house that was built here early in the 16th century, probably for Sir John Heron, Treasurer of the Chamber to first Henry VII and then Henry VIII, who bought the manor of Rycote on his retirement in 1521. Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, honeymooned here in 1540. Pictures from circa 1695 and 1714 show that the main part of the house was arranged around a courtyard. It had stepped gables, a gatehouse and polygonal corner turrets with cupolas and was surrounded by a moat.