Sezincote House

Sezincote House stands on high ground in the shelter of the Cotswolds, about two and a half kilometres from Moreton-in-Marsh. It is a country estate whose centrepiece is a Georgian house designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell in 1805. The building is a rare British example of Neo-Mughal architecture, blending 16th- and 17th-century Mughal forms with European interiors. Red sandstone walls echo Mughal palaces, while a copper dome replaces the usual white marble. Large arched windows have shell-like fan tracery that shows the Indian influence. The house was commissioned by Sir Charles Cockerell after his brother bought the estate in 1795. Colonel John Cockerell had served in Bengal with the East India Company and returned with sketches of Mughal buildings. Samuel Pepys Cockerell, who had worked for the Company without ever visiting India, used engravings by Thomas Daniell to design the house. Daniell also laid out the landscape, creating a Renaissance garden with Hindu elements such as a crescent bridge. Visitors find a Grade I listed building whose rooms mix European decoration with Mughal motifs. Outside, the gardens include a temple, bridge, dairy and farm buildings in the same style. A green onion-shaped dome tops the house, supported by umbrella-shaped chhatris and overhanging eaves. Serpent fountains, a Surya temple, Shiva lingams and stone Nandi bulls guard the estate, while Humphry Repton’s landscape frames the scene.