Kelmscott Manor | |
---|---|
Type | Manor House |
Location | Kelmscott |
Coordinates | 51°41′17″N1°38′18″W / 51.6880°N 1.6382°W |
OS grid reference | SU 25096 98888 |
Area | West Oxfordshire |
Built | 1570 |
Owner | Society of Antiquaries of London |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Kelmscott Manor |
Designated | 12 September 1955 |
Reference no. | 1199373 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Garden wall, attached summerhouse and privy at Kelmscott Manor |
Designated | 30 Mar 1989 |
Reference no. | 1053381 |
Kelmscott Manor is a limestone manor house in the Cotswolds village of Kelmscott, in West Oxfordshire, southern England. It dates from around 1570, with a late 17th-century wing, and is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England. It is situated close to the River Thames. The nearest town is Lechlade-On-Thames.
The house was built by local farmer Thomas Turner and remained in the family for many generations. After George Turner died in 1734, the house was let out. [1] The house was originally called Lower House, but became Kelmscott Manor when James Turner (d.1870) purchased 53½ acres of manorial land together with the lordship in 1864. After James died the manor passed to his nephew, Charles Hobbs, who let out the property. [2]
Kelmscott Manor was the country home of the writer, designer and socialist William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896. Today it is owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London, and is open to the public on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays during the summer. [3]
Morris drew great inspiration from the unspoilt authenticity of the house's architecture and craftsmanship, and its organic relationship with its setting, especially its garden. The Manor is featured in Morris' work News from Nowhere . It also appears in the background of Water Willow, a portrait of his wife, Jane Morris, painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871.
After William Morris's death in 1896, the Manor continued to be occupied by his widow, Jane Morris (who purchased it in 1913) and later, his daughters. May Morris died in 1938 and bequeathed the house to Oxford University, on the basis the contents were preserved and the public were granted access. The University were unwilling to preserve the house as 'a museum piece' and passed the house and land to the Society of Antiquaries in 1962. [2]
The manor was in a precarious state of decay when passed to The Society and much of the 1960's work was to make sure that the manor house did not deteriorate further. Most of the main roof beams were rotten which meant that a lot of the structure needed to be replaced. Internal walls and floors were strengthened and a new porch added to the North entrance. The associated barns were purchased by the Society in the 1970's and converted into a shop and tearoom.
The internal décor today is substantially that of Morris, and includes many of his famous textile patterns as well as much of his furniture. Visitors can explore all three floors of the manor, including the attic spaces which would originally have been used for farm labourers. Morris's bedroom contains many of his original books, and a collection of Dürer prints. [4] Other rooms display furniture from Red House in Bexleyheath, Kelmscott House in Hammersmith and other family homes. There are also further works by Rossetti, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
The manor was reopened in April 2022 after a major restoration project undertaken by the Society. The work, funded by grants totalling £6m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Kelmscott: Past Present and Future campaign, has seen extensive work undertaken to the structure of the house, as well as renovation of the interior. [5] The manor is a Grade I listed building. [6]
The garden includes many old trees, including a very old black mulberry at the rear of the house. The front garden is walled with a summer house in one corner, and both the wall and the summerhouse are Grade II listed. [7] The front garden contains many standard roses. Although part of the original orchard has been removed to make a small car park, many fruit trees have been left intact.
William Morris named his London residence "Kelmscott House" and the private press that he founded "the Kelmscott Press" after Kelmscott. He was buried in the village churchyard in a tomb designed by his friend and colleague Philip Webb.
William Morris was a British textile designer, poet, artist, fantasy writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he helped win acceptance of socialism in fin de siècle Great Britain.
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to the west. The city of Oxford is the largest settlement and county town.
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti inspired the next generation of artists and writers, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones in particular. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.
Harlaxton Manor is a Victorian country house in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, England. It was built for Gregory Gregory, a local squire and businessman. Gregory employed two of the leading architects of Victorian England, Anthony Salvin and William Burn and consulted a third, Edward Blore, during its construction. Its architecture, which combines elements of Jacobean and Elizabethan styles with Baroque decoration, makes it unique among England's Jacobethan houses. Harlaxton is a Grade I listed building on the National Heritage List for England, and many other structures on the estate are also listed. The surrounding park and gardens are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is now the British campus of the University of Evansville.
Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about 2 miles (3 km) east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census recorded the merged parish's population as 198.
Red House is a significant Arts and Crafts building located in Bexleyheath, south-east London, England. Co-designed in 1859 by the architect Philip Webb and the designer William Morris, it was created to serve as a family home for Morris. Construction was completed in 1860.
Chicheley Hall, Chicheley, Buckinghamshire, England is a country house built in the first quarter of the 18th century. The client was Sir John Chester, the main architect was Francis Smith of Warwick and the architectural style is Baroque. Later owners included David Beatty, 2nd Earl Beatty and the Royal Society. Chicheley Hall is a Grade I listed building.
Jane Morris was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband William Morris and to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her sister was embroiderer and teacher Elizabeth Burden.
Merton is a village and civil parish near the River Ray, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 424.
Cotehele is a medieval house with Tudor additions, situated in the parish of Calstock in the east of Cornwall, England, and now belonging to the National Trust. It is a rambling granite and slate-stone manor house on the banks of the River Tamar that has been little changed over five centuries. It was built by the Edgecumbe family in 1458 after the original Manor House was pulled down. Sir Richard Edgecumbe came into the property after fighting for Henry Tudor in the Battle of Bosworth. He was gifted with money and the original Manor House and estate and then proceeded to build Cotehele.
Remenham is a village and civil parish on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames opposite Henley-on-Thames in southern England. It is particularly well known for the steep approach, known as Remenham Hill or White Hill, into Henley.
Ernest William Gimson was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputation is securely established as one of the most influential designers of the English Arts and Crafts movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Newton Surmaville is a 15,129-square-foot (1,405.5 m2) stately home with gardens and a park south of Yeovil, Somerset in the district of South Somerset, in England. It lies just outside the town in the parish of Barwick.
Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Witney and about 6 miles (10 km) west of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Sutton, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) north of the village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 960.
Kelmscott House is Grade II* listed Georgian brick mansion at 26 Upper Mall in Hammersmith, overlooking the River Thames. Built in about 1785, it was the London home of English textile designer, artist, writer and socialist William Morris from 1878 to 1896.
Nailsea Court in Nailsea, Somerset, England, is an English manor house dating from the 15th century. Pevsner describes the house as "historically highly instructive and interesting" and it is a Grade I listed building.
Rainham Hall is a Grade II* listed Georgian house, owned by the National Trust, in Rainham, in the London Borough of Havering. Built in 1729 for Captain John Harle, the house was transferred to the National Trust in 1949; let to a number of private tenants, it remained closed to the public until late 2015. Of note is that Rainham Hall recently appeared as a location in the 2019 BBC production of A Christmas Carol.
St John the Baptist Church in Inglesham, near Swindon, Wiltshire, England, has Anglo-Saxon origins but most of the current structure was built around 1205. Much of the church has not changed since the medieval era. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building, and is now a redundant church which has been in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since 1981.
Water Willow is an 1871 oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It depicts Jane Morris in the river landscape near Kelmscott Manor, with the manor in the left background and Kelmscott Church below the hill to the right.
Arley House and Gardens are situated at Upper Arley, about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Bewdley, in Worcestershire, England. The gardens, arboretum and parkland are listed Grade II in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens.