Fire tackled at £3.5m 19th Century country house

Fire crews from nine stations have spent most of the day tackling a blaze at an unoccupied 19th Century country house.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (OFRS) said initial crews had been faced with a "well developed fire" involving the first floor and roof of part of Bignell House in Chesterton near Bicester since about 01:30 GMT.

The service said it was working to contain the fire to less than 50% of the property, which was previously up for sale valued at £3.5m.

It confirmed no one had been injured or involved in the fire.

OFRS said initial fire crews from Bicester, Kidlington, Rewley Road, Deddington and Woodstock were joined by specialist support vehicles including the command unit from Slade Park, water carrier from Wheatley, incident support unit and welfare unit from Eynsham and hydraulic platform from Rewley Road.

"Hard work by crews to establish water supplies and tackle the fire, enabled them to protect a large part of the building," it added.

"Relief crews from a number of additional stations have supported the ongoing incident."

Estate agent Alexander & Co had Bignell House previously listed for sale, describing it as dating back to the 1860's and a part of a larger property in 1,454 acres (5,884,129 sq m) of land.

"The property was designed by William Wilkinson, the architect behind the Randolph Hotel and St. Edwards School, Oxford and took six years to construct," the advert read.

"Today, only the nursery wing, which was added to the main house in 1892, remains."

It added that the property required "considerable work but still retains some of its original character".

The property is not currently listed and the agent said they had never managed to sell it.

It was on the market since July 2024 but Alexander & Co took it off at the beginning of the year as they had not heard from the vendor.

TVP which also supported the effort with a thermal imaging drone said the fire was not currently being treated as suspicious.

OFRS said fire crews would be on the site for most of the day.

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