Listed house featured in Thomas Hardy novel on the market for £850,000 

• Ox House is a Grade II* listed property in Shaftesbury, Dorset that inspired Hardy
• The house was called Old Grove Place and was home to teacher Phillotson  

A historic home that featured in a Thomas Hardy novel has gone on the market for £850,000.

Ox House is a Grade II* Listed property in Shaftesbury, Dorset, which the Victorian author used in his last completed novel, Jude the Obscure (1895).

The house, built in the late 16th century, was called Old Grove Place by Hardy in the book and was the home of Sue Bridehead, Jude’s cousin and love interest, and her schoolteacher husband Phillotson.

The four-bedroom property has a blue plaque to mark its historical importance and sometimes attracts a ‘madding crowd’ of Hardy fans on walking tours of known landmarks from his work.

Ox House is now in need of some updating but it is an attractive period home with early 17th century open fireplaces, sash windows and moulded stud and panelled partitions.

Complete with timeless stone walls, sweeping grounds and spacious rooms, the house is picturesque and private, while also being conveniently close to the centre of Bimport. 

The house has 4,401 square of accommodation. On the ground floor there is a porch, kitchen/breakfast room, conservatory, dining room, drawing room, sitting room, utility room and bathroom.

Upstairs are four bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor and another three attic rooms on the top floor.

There is also an attached double garage and the house sits in a large secluded garden of about 0.35 of an acre with a stone terrace and ornamental pond.

The large dining room offers plentiful space to host guests with an atmospheric wooden beamed ceiling, while a living room, crowned with a stunning fireplace, overlooks the garden. 

It was owned by Shaftesbury benefactor John Grove, which may explain how Hardy created its fictional name in the book.

Shaftesbury became Shaston in Hardy’s Wessex and in Jude the Obscure, the central character Jude Fawley follows his love interest there as her husband is the schoolmaster.

In the novel Sue says: ‘We don’t live at the school you know, but in that ancient dwelling across the way called Old Grove Place. It is so antique and dismal that it depresses me dreadfully.

‘Such houses are very well to visit, but not to live in-I feel crushed into the earth by the weight of so many previous lives there spent.’

At one point in the book Sue, horrified at the notion of sleeping with her husband, jumps from the bedroom window in a half-awake state.

The novel’s portrayal of sex, marriage and Christianity caused controversy in Victorian Britain, with one bishop allegedly burning a copy and booksellers selling it in brown paper bags.

It sold well – 20,000 copies in the first three months – but was the last novel Hardy wrote, sticking to publishing poetry until his death in 1928.

A spokesman for estate agents Jackson Stops said: ‘Ox House is a property of historical importance. It featured as ‘Old Grove Place’ in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure.

‘It is now in need of updating and offers a wonderful opportunity for a prospective purchaser.

‘There are three rooms on the second floor, currently accessed via a hatch in the ceiling following the removal of the initial staircase many years ago, which would significantly increase the scale of the accommodation.

‘The house has many attributes worthy of mention, including early 17th century open fireplaces.

‘It lies halfway down Bimport, within an easy level walk of the town centre.’