Snowshill Manor
The property is located in Snowshill. It is a typical
Cotswold manor house, made from local stone; the main part of the house dates
from the 16th century. It is a Grade II* listed building, having been so
designated since 4 July 1960. Also listed are the brewhouse, the dovecote, some
of the garden buildings, the wall and gate-piers, and the group of four Manor
Cottages.
Snowshill Manor was the property of Winchcombe Abbey from
821 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539[3] when the Abbey was
confiscated by King Henry VIII, who presented it to his last queen, Catherine
Parr. Between 1539 and 1919 it had a number of tenants and owners until it was
purchased by Charles Paget Wade, an architect, artist-craftsman, collector,
poet and heir to the family fortune. He restored the property, living in the
small cottage in the garden and using the manor house as a home for his
collection of objects. By the time of his death he had amassed over 22,000
objects. He gave the property and the contents of this collection to the
National Trust in 1951.
The house contains an eclectic collection of thousands of
objects, gathered over the years by Charles Paget Wade, whose motto was
"Let nothing perish". The collection includes toys, Samurai armour,
musical instruments, and clocks. Today, the main attraction of the house is
perhaps the display of Wade's collection. From 1900 until 1951, when he gave
the Manor to the National Trust, Wade amassed an enormous and eclectic
collection of objects reflecting his interest in craftsmanship. The objects in
the collection include 26 suits of Japanese samurai armour dating from the 17th
and 19th centuries, bicycles, toys, musical instruments, and more.
Wade was an eccentric man and lived in the Priest's House
while housing his collection in the manor. It is said to be haunted by a monk,
and by the ghost of a young woman forced in 1604 to marry against her will in
one of the upstairs rooms.
The garden at Snowshill was laid out by Wade, in
collaboration with Arts and Crafts movement architect, M. H. Baillie Scott,
between 1920 and 1923. Their elaborate layout resembles a series of outside
rooms seen as an extension to the house. Features include terraces and ponds,
and the gardens demonstrate Wade's fascination with colours and scents. As well
as formal beds, the gardens include an ancient dovecote, a model village,
kitchen garden, orchards and small fields with sheep.
No comments:
Post a Comment