
Wightwick Manor ( ) is a
Victorian house in
Wightwick Bank, a suburb of
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...
,
West Midlands, England. It was commissioned in 1887 from the architect
Edward Ould by Theodore
Mander of
Mander Brothers
Mander Brothers was a major employer in the city of Wolverhampton, in the English Midlands, a progressive company founded in 1773. In the 19th century the firm became the number one manufacturers of varnishes, paints and later printing inks in th ...
, a Wolverhampton paint and varnish manufacturer. It stands adjacent to the Old Manor, a late sixteenth or early seventeenth-century building that was the original residence on the site.
The house is significant as an example of a domestic building constructed, decorated, and furnished under the influence of the
Aesthetic movement
Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to b ...
and
Arts and Crafts movement
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America.
Initiat ...
.
It contains many examples of the works of
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...
and his firm
Morris & Co., including wall hangings,
wallpaper
Wallpaper is used in interior decoration to cover the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" to help cover uneve ...
s, and upholstery; tiles designed by
William De Morgan; and stained glass designed by
Charles Kempe. It also contains
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...
works of art, including works by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...
,
Evelyn De Morgan,
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter.
Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...
,
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...
,
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...
,
Elizabeth Siddal, and
Leonard Shuffrey.
[
Much of the collection in the house was assembled by Sir Geoffrey and Lady Rosalind Mander, who inherited it in 1900. They gave the house and grounds to the ]National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
in 1937, but continued adding to the contents until their deaths in 1962 and 1988 respectively. The property is open to the public, although the Mander family retain the use of an apartment. The Old Manor houses the De Morgan Gallery, an exhibition of the works of Evelyn and William De Morgan.
History
The oldest building on the site is the Old Manor, which incorporates elements of a medieval house and which was built in two stages around the turn of the seventeenth century by Francis Wightwick and his son, Alexander. The Wightwick family took their name from the estate and owned it from at least the thirteenth century until 1815, when it was sold to the Hinkes family. In 1887 it was sold again to (Samuel) Theodore Mander.
The Mander family became established in Wolverhampton in the mid-eighteenth century, when Thomas Mander moved to the town from Warwickshire. His son, Benjamin Mander, established a japanning
Japanning is a type of Surface finishing, finish that originated as a European imitation of East Asian lacquerware#East Asia, lacquerwork. It was first used on furniture, but was later much used on small items in metal. The word originated in th ...
and tinplate
Tinplate consists of sheet metal, sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rust, rusting. Before the advent of cheap mild steel, the backing metal (known as "") was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinp ...
works in 1773, which became Mander Brothers
Mander Brothers was a major employer in the city of Wolverhampton, in the English Midlands, a progressive company founded in 1773. In the 19th century the firm became the number one manufacturers of varnishes, paints and later printing inks in th ...
and expanded into the manufacture of paints under his grandsons, Charles and Samuel Mander. Their sons, Charles and Theodore respectively, became company directors in 1879. In the same year, Theodore married Flora, the daughter of Henry Nicholas Paint, a merchant and member of the Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...
.
After purchasing Wightwick, Theodore commissioned Edward Ould of Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
to design a new house. This was completed in 1887, and consisted of the western half of the present house and a single-storey west wing containing a billiard room. Notes taken by Theodore Mander at a lecture given in Wolverhampton in 1884 by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
on the 'House Beautiful' inspired Wightwick's interiors. Taking inspiration from this lecture, Theodore and his wife Flora decorated its interiors with the designs of William Morris and his Arts and Crafts contemporaries. However, the Pre-Raphaelite collection was mostly assembled after the house was donated to the National Trust, particularly by Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, who was an art historian.
The house had no guest bedrooms and proved too small by 1893, when the billiard room was demolished and a new east wing built. This approximately doubled the size of the building, and, as well as five guest bedrooms, contained a living-room called the 'great parlour', a dining room, and a replacement billiard room. The elaborate pendant imitation Jacobean plaster ceiling in the dining room was designed by Leonard Shuffrey.
In 1937, Geoffrey Mander, a radical Liberal MP and local paint manufacturer who had been left the timber-framed house by his father Theodore, persuaded the National Trust to accept a house that was just 50 years old, under the Country Houses Scheme Act.
This house of the Aesthetic Movement was, by 1937, a relic of an out of fashion era. Yet, so complete was the design that it was worthy of preservation. Having given the house to the Trust, Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, became its live-in curators, opening the house to the public and adding to its contents. In particular, they added a notable collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and their followers. Descendants of the family retain a private apartment in the manor.
House, art collection and gardens
The Manor has the work of 13 professional female artists on permanent public display, more than any other in the National Trust, including notable examples of works by Lizzie Siddal, Lucy Madox Brown, Marie Spartali Stillman, and May Morris. Most of these artworks were collected by the Manders. The malthouse gallery now houses a group of works by Evelyn De Morgan and her husband William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
, on loan from the De Morgan Foundation.
The house has 17 acres of woodland and gardens, and the outbuildings include parts of an earlier Jacobean manor house, stables (now a tea room), a gallery in the old malt house, gift shop, and a second-hand bookshop
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.
People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen.
History
The foundi ...
.
It is situated just off the main A454 Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...
to Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the United Kingd ...
road, approximately three miles to the west of the city centre.
The manor has been Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
on the National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...
since July 1950, and its gardens are Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
See also
* List of works by Grayson and Ould
*'' Treasure Houses of Britain''
References
External links
{{commons category, Wightwick Manor
Wightwick Manor information at the National Trust
Wightwick Manor entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
"Sir Geoffrey Mander: the last of the Midland Radicals"
by Nicholas Mander
"Wightwick Manor: the House Beautiful"
Photos of Wightwick Manor and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
National Trust Collections
Arts and Crafts architecture in England
Buildings by Grayson and Ould
Conservation areas in England
Country houses in the West Midlands (county)
Grade II listed parks and gardens in the West Midlands (county)
Grade I listed houses
Grade I listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)
Historic house museums in the West Midlands (county)
Houses completed in 1887
Manor houses in England
Museums in Wolverhampton
National Trust properties in the West Midlands (county)
Tudor Revival architecture in England
Tettenhall