Photographs by Laurent Bury and Philip Pankhurst. The former may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one. Philip Pankhurst's photographs first appeared on the Geograph website, and are available for reuse on the Creative Commons cc-by-sa/2.0. licence. Many thanks to both. [Click on all the images for larger pictures.]
Wightwick Manor, 1887, extended in 1893. Edward Ould (1852-1909), partner in the Liverpool firm of Grayson and Ould. Photograph © Philip Pankhurst.
The listing text of this spectacular Grade I listed country house in Wolverhampton (now owned by the National Trust) gives the following notes on its construction: "Brick with ashlar dressings and timber framing; tile roofs with brick stacks. Originally L-plan with west wing and north service wing with square tower to angle, later extended to T-plan with east guest wing. Vernacular Revival Style." Shown above is the highly impressive south or garden or "show" front.
Left: Garden front to the Great Parlour Wing, added by Ould in 1893. Right: part of the adjacent building, with its second storey tile-hanging. Note the barley-sugar chimney stacks. Photographs © Laurent Bury.
According to Mark Girouard, Wightwick Manor
neatly illustrates three aspects of Victorian taste: the existence towards the end of the century of a large body of cultivated upper middle-class families who read their Ruskin and Morris and expressed their artistic tastes in their houses; the way in which the ideas of Shaw and Nesfield had spread through the country and were imitated by provincial as well as London architects; and the way in which the Shaw Old English style was modified around 1890 into something softer, lusher and much closer to an imitation of genuine old work. [375]
The Manor was built for Theodore Mander, a wealthy paint-manufacturer, and his family. Mander had taken notes on a lecture he attended in 1884, at the Free Library Lecture Hall in Wolverhampton. Entitled "The House Beautiful," it was by no less a spokesman of Aestheticism than Oscar Wilde. Mander was also well-versed in Ruskin's work. Indeed, as Stephen Ponder points out, "a quotation from Modern Painters is carved in the panelling above the Drawing Room fireplace" (2). Mander therefore turned to the very best in the contemporary design world for his interiors: Morris & Co., the stained glass designer Charles Eamer Kempe, whose own interest and skills in period design went far beyond the windows themselves, and the ceramicist William De Morgan.
Interior
Part of the entrance hall. Photographs © Laurent Bury.
One of the great features of the interior is the variety of wallpapers and hangings designed by Morris. Not that Morris himself was directly involved here, but the items were bought in for the rooms of both the 1887 and 1893 buildings from Morris & Co., and added to later. Another important feature is the Kempe glass, one of the most obvious and predictable signs of his input here. Examples of both can be seen right from the hallway onwards.
The most spectacular room of all is the long Great Parlour in Ould's addition of 1893. In his book about old timber-framed houses in other counties, Ould found the "Gothic Hall" in the older part of Adlington Hall, Cheshire, particularly "charming" (37), and here at Wightwick he created a room with a magnificent arch-braced roof, and a landing or balcony at the far end reminiscent of a minstrels' gallery, which clearly echoes the "Great Halls" of earlier centuries. At its heart is an inglenook fireplace which is hardly a nook, with ample cosy seating. Complementing Ould's work, the walls around are covered with woven fabric in the "Diagonal Trail" design created by J.H. Dearle for the Morris Company. The furnishings in general may not have been up-to-the-minute, but this particular wall-covering was in the very vanguard of fashionable styles, a pattern that dates from exactly the time the hall was built, making it probably the first occasion for its use (see Parry 141).
The Great Parlour. Photograph © Philip Pankhurst.
Above this wall-covering is a colourful ten-panel painted plaster frieze on which Kempe was at the very least "consulted" (Girouard 166); the National Trust Collections entry for this item states categorically that he designed it (see "Frieze"). Apparently inspired by one at Hardwick Hall, this depicts scenes from the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus's lute-playing draws the wild animals to him; but then later he fails in his mission to bring Eurydice from the underworld. A verse is inscribed beside it on the wall, explaining the charm of his lute-playing. Kempe is also credited with having designed the attractive contrast detailing of the woodwork here. Near the verse, on the wall opposite the landing/gallery, is "The Forest" tapestry by Morris & Co, a star attraction which is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, but is often displayed here. While this is not part of the Manor's own collection, it is very appropriate in this context, and the house does now hold studies for some of the animals featured in it. These were by Morris's friend and close associate, the important Arts and Crafts architect, Philip Webb.
Left to right: (a) The centrepiece of the Great Parlour is the inglenook fireplace. Photographs © Laurent Bury. (b) Detail of Dearle's wall-hanging. (c) Closer view of tiled fireplace. Photograph © Laurent Bury.
The Library and Drawing Room are both in the older part of the house. Both fireplaces have tiled surrounds by William De Morgan, of whose work there is an extensive collection here. The green hearth tiles in the Library are by De Morgan too. There are also Morris textile hangings. Over the mantelpiece is a reproduction of George Heming Mason's lovely The Harvest Moon. In the Drawing Room, one distinctive feature is the moulded cornice and ceiling. According to the listing text, the Kempe glass here came from Kempe's own house, Old Place. It illustrates Morris's epic poem, "The Earthly Paradise" (Wilhide 6).
Left: Looking into the Library from the hall: the fireplace. Right: Drawing Room window seat.
With so much interior embellishment, its large collection of beautiful furnishings, and the numerous artworks displayed on its walls, shelves and ledges, Wightwick Manor might sound like a museum. But, fortunately, it is comfortable and welcoming, and retains the atmosphere of a home — exactly as all associated with it would have wished.
Bibliography
"Frieze." National Trust Collections. Web. 8 August 2024.
Girouard, Mark. The Victorian Country House. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971.
Holder, Julian. Arts and Crafts Architecture: "Beauty's Awakening." Ebook ed. Ramsbury, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2020.
Ould, E.A. Old Cottages, Farm Houses, and Other Half-Timber Buildings in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Cheshire. London: Batsford, 1904. Internet Archive, from a copy in Robarts Library, University of Toronto. Web. 8 August 2024.
Parry, Linda. William Morris Textiles. New York: Viking, 1983.
Ponder, Stephen. "The Morris and De Morgan Collections at Wightwick Manor." Morris Society. Web. 8 August 2024. https://morrissociety.org/wp-content/uploads/SP87.7.2.Ponder.pdf
"Wightwick Manor." Historic England. Web. 8 August 2024.
Wilhide. Elizaeth. William Morris: Decor & Design. London: Pavilion Books, 1991.
Created 6 August 2024