William Wilkinson

William Wilkinson (1819–1901) was a British Gothic Revival architect who practised in Oxford, England.

Family

Wilkinson was born into a family connected with the building trades. His father worked as a builder in Witney, in Oxfordshire.

Architecture featured prominently among his close relatives. His elder brother, George Wilkinson (1814–1890), practised as an architect. Two of his nephews also entered the profession: C.C. Rolfe (died 1907) and H.W. Moore (1850–1915).

Career Most of Wilkinson's buildings are in Oxfordshire. His major works include the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, completed in 1864. He was in partnership with his nephew H.W. Moore from 1881. In his long career Wilkinson had a number of pupils, including H.J. Tollit (1835–1904).

Works

Churches In 1841, at the age of only 22, Wilkinson designed a new Church of England parish church, Holy Trinity at Lew, Oxfordshire. His other work on churches included:

St Leonard's parish church, Eynsham: restoration, 1856 Witney Cemetery: lodge and two chapels, 1857 Witney Workhouse: chapel, 1860 All Saints' parish church, Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire: Horton family mausoleum, 1866–67 St Andrew's parish church, Headington, Oxford: added north aisle, 1880

Police buildings

Wilkinson moved to Oxford in 1856 and succeeded J.C. Buckler as architect to the local police committee. Oxfordshire County Constabulary was formed in 1857, and Wilkinson designed several buildings for the new force.

Watlington police station, 1858–59 Witney police station, 1860 Woodstock police station, 1863 Chipping Norton police station, 1864–65 Burford police station, 1869 Magistrates' room at Deddington Court House, 1874

Houses Wilkinson designed Home Farm on the Shirburn Castle estate, built in 1856–57. From 1860 he laid out the Norham Manor estate in north Oxford. The estate was slowly developed with large villas, a number of which Wilkinson designed himself. Wilkinson also designed town houses and small country houses elsewhere in Oxfordshire:

Hollybank, Wootton, 1862–63 10, Broad Street, Oxford, 1863 Whittlebury, Northamptonshire: farmhouse, 1864 The Holt, Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, 1864 60 Banbury Road, Oxford, 1865–66 Bignell House, Chesterton, 1866 (partly demolished) 23 and 24 Cornhill, Banbury, 1866 Astrop Park, Northamptonshire: lodge, pheasantry and cottage, 1868 Witney Almshouses: restoration, 1868. Brashfield House, Caversfield, 1871–73 Shelswell Park, Shelswell, 1875 Cowley Place (now St Hilda's College, Oxford): extension, 1877–78

Clergy houses A number of the houses that Wilkinson designed were for clergy. Most were for the Church of England, but he also designed a presbytery that was built for the Roman Catholic Church.

Ramsden parsonage, 1862 Chadlington parsonage, 1863 (now Chadlington House) Duns Tew rectory, 1864 (now Priory Court) Godington parsonage, 1867 (now the Old Vicarage) Upper Heyford parsonage, 1869 Rousham rectory: enlargement and remodelling, 1873. St Aloysius' presbytery, Woodstock Road, Oxford, 1877–78 Combe vicarage and Institute (with H.W. Moore), 1892–93

Educational establishments Wilkinson designed the library for the Oxford Union, built in 1863. He designed a number of schools, of which the largest was St Edward's School, Oxford, whose buildings he completed in phases from 1873 until 1886. His other schools include: Hailey School, 1848 Minster Lovell School, 1870–72 Burford Elementary School, 1875–77 Thame Grammar School, 1877–79 Salesian College, Crescent Road, Cowley, 1880

Industrial buildings Late in his career Wilkinson undertook one industrial commission: a new smith shop and foundry for William Lucy's Eagle Ironworks in Jericho, Oxford. This single-storey building was completed in 1879. It was demolished after Lucy ceased production in England in 2005.

Publications