Rodmarton Manor

RODMARTON MANOR is the supreme example of a house built and all its furniture made according to Arts and Crafts ideals and was one of the last country houses to be built and furnished in the old traditional style when everything was done by hand with local stone, local timber and local craftsmen.

Ernest Barnsley and the Cotswold group of Craftsmen, who built and furnished the house for Claud and Margaret Biddulph, beginning in 1909, were responsible for the revival of many traditional crafts in the Cotswolds which were in danger of dying out. Over the 20 years that it took to build the house many people were involved in building, woodwork, metalwork, needlework, painting, gardening, all done to a very high standard.

Most of the furniture was made specially for the house, either in the Rodmarton workshops, or made by Sidney Barnsley, Edward Barnsley or Peter Waals. Some furniture was bought after the house was built but all pieces are directly or indirectly attributable to the original craftsmen or people who had connections with them such as Harry Davoll, Owen Scrubey, Oliver Morel.

There is furniture and pottery painted by Alfred and Louise Powell, applique wall hangings designed by Hilda Benjamin (Sexton), leadwork and brass designed by Norman Jewson, and ironwork by Fred and Frank Baldwin and Alfred Bucknell.