Rodmarton Manor
| Rodmarton Manor | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Country house |
| Architectural style | Arts and Crafts movement |
| Classification | Grade I listed building |
| Location | Rodmarton, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire |
| Country | England |
| Construction started | 1909 |
| Completed | 1926-1929 |
| Owner | Biddulph family |
| Height | |
| Roof | Stone slate |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Stone |
| Floor count | 2 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Ernest Barnsley |
| Website | |
| rodmarton-manor |
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Rodmarton Manor is a large country house, in Rodmarton, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, built for the Biddulph family. It is a Grade I listed building. It was constructed in the early 20th century in an Arts and Crafts style, to a design by Ernest Barnsley. After Ernest's death in 1925, it was completed by Sidney Barnsley, his brother, and then by Norman Jewson, Ernest's son-in-law. All the construction materials were obtained locally, and hand worked by local craftsmen.
The three wings of the house are angled around a central, circular, lawned courtyard. The east wing, originally for servants, has been converted into flats, whilst the central "public" wing was not lived in by the family, instead being used for community teaching and events. Crafts were taught at in the building and the vast majority of the furniture was commissioned for the house and built locally. The southern gardens used hedges to create specific spaces, giving the impression of exterior "rooms" next to the house, with an extensive kitchen garden which provided much of the food for the house. The house was described by the designer Charles Ashbee as the single best example of the Arts and Crafts movement.
During World War II, the house was used as an evacuation point for a London Catholic school, and a maternity house due the shortage of midwives.
In 1894, Claud Biddulph, youngest son of the politician Sir Michael Biddulph, was given 500 acres (200 ha) of land by his father and in 1906, he committed £5000 (worth approximately £2 million in 2015) per year to building a house. Biddulph and his wife, Margaret, were passionate about the Arts and Crafts movement, a design movement focused on restoring traditional approaches to decorative craftwork and fine art, so he commissioned architect Ernest Barnsley to create the house in that style. Biddulph referred to the manor as a "cottage in the country". The Biddulphs originally hoped for a large village house, a focal point for the village community, who would work on craft projects in the house. Barnsley had settled in the Cotswolds in 1893 with his brother, leaving their successful Birmingham architecture firm behind, to focus on traditional crafting methods without machines.
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