Category: Travels

Research, Travels

A Visit to Wightwick Manor & The De Morgan Foundation

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Today (16th November) marks the anniversary of the birth in 1839 of the artist William De Morgan.

William De Morgan portrait by Evelyn De Morgan and De Morgan shop sign in tiles at De Morgan Foundation, Wightwick Manor (better image at NPG) Photo: Lucy Brouwer

De Morgan was a lifelong friend of William Morris, a potter who designed tiles, stained glass and furniture for Morris and Co. I have wanted to visit the wide-ranging collection of his work and the work of his wife, artist Evelyn De Morgan at Wightwick Manor, near Wolverhampton for some time and last weekend I had the chance to see the house and its fantastic contents.

Image of Wightwick Manor Wikimedia Commons Rick Massey


The house itself is something of a trickster, built by architect Edward Ould for Theodore Mander in two parts in 1887 and 1892 in an Old English style with timber framing, red brick and tile hanging it looks like a carefully restored medieval building but it is not all it seems. On closer inspection the house is almost too good to be true – the timbers and patterns are a front and don’t reflect the construction of the place at all. There is a long process of restoration taking place and scaffolding was up when I visited, the untreated timbers are gradually being replaced and the illusion is being upheld.

Entrance to Wightwick Manor under restoration. I think Fothergill would have liked the faux-medieval tower… Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Tile hanging and timber at Wightwick Manor. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Timbers full of detail at Wightwick Manor. Photo: Lucy Brouwer


The Mander family who made their fortune in paint and varnish later turned to local politics. They wanted period details for their home, and it was comfortably furnished with attention to craftsmanship and artistic interest. Stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe (see previous blog on Lichfield Cathedral), wallpapers and rugs by William Morris, the house is a great example of late Victorian taste. I imagine that the lush textures and busy walls resemble to some extent what Fothergill’s house at 7 Mapperley Road in Nottingham might have looked like. Art, porcelain and glass but set off with electric lights. Carefully chosen objects and medieval themes dominate.

Four seasons stained glass by Charles Kempe at Wightwick Manor. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
William De Morgan plate. Bold colour and strong shapes. Photo: Lucy Brouwer


In the 20th century, Geoffrey Mander and his wife Rosalie gave Wightwick to the National Trust but continued to live there and collect Pre-Raphaelite art, William Morris designs and the pottery of William De Morgan. The house also contains paintings by Evelyn De Morgan – a painter whose skills and contribution to this colourful style are enjoying closer attention in the 21st century.

Evelyn De Morgan’s colours were fantastic but I also really liked this Study of a head. Better photos of some of the work here


The De Morgan Foundation – set up by Evelyn’s sister the redoubtable Wilhelmina Stirling – houses some of both artists’ work in the coach house on the site. The lustreware tiles and bowls made by William are startlingly modern and bright, Evelyn’s drawing and painting to my mind sometimes even finer than that of the more celebrated Edward Burne Jones.

A couple of people I’ve met who live in Fothergill houses have mentioned that they have tiles that might be De Morgan or at least inspired by his style. I love these galleons that were in the medieval hall at Wightwick Manor. Photo: Lucy Brouwer

Next on my list of places to visit – Cannon Hall near Barnsley where more of William and Evelyn De Morgan’s work is housed.

Influences, Research, Travels

Lichfield Cathedral

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In June, I visited Lichfield and called in at the Cathedral – the relevance to this project being that such a visit was a massive inspiration to Fothergill Watson when he was a trainee architect.

Lichfield Cathedral front. Photo: Lucy Brouwer

Whilst working in Frederick Jackson’s office in Nottingham, Fothergill visited many buildings of architectural interest in England including Lichfield Cathedral in 1858. It was this visit to the Cathedral which really fired his enthusiasm for his chosen career, architecture. This can be seen from an entry in the Family Records, “my enthusiastic love for Gothic architecture began, a love which has grown with the years. So did it stir my zeal for architecture as a profession that I commenced to work as I had never done before, and left no stone unturned in my endeavours to thoroughly master my profession.”

Lichfield Cathedral front, detail. Photo: Lucy Brouwer

In November 1903, Fothergill re-visited Lichfield Cathedral which had been the inspiration for his ambition to follow a career as an architect. He noted that it was 42 years since he last visited the Cathedral: “what a jewel among Cathedrals”. (Information from the Fothergill Watson Family Record extracted from Denis S. Kilner, PhD Thesis – Watson Fothergill: A Victorian Architect, University of Nottingham, 1978. Copy at Nottinghamshire Archives).

During my visit I spotted a stained glass window that depicts builders and architects. The Hackett Window, by Charles Eamer Kempe c. 1901 shows Bishop John Hackett (1661-70) poring over plans for the rebuilding of his cathedral which had been ‘overthrown by violent and wicked hands’ during the Civil War. (Lichfield Cathedral, A Journey of Discovery by Jonathan Foyle)

Perhaps Fothergill saw this window on his second visit in 1903? He certainly remembered the sculptural figures when he was designing his office on George Street, Nottingham!

Statues on Cathedral front, Lichfield. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Gargoyle at Lichfield Cathedral. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Statuary on Fothergill’s George Street office, Nottingham. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Learn more about Fothergill’s buildings and his influences by joining The Watson Fothergill Walk, the next available date is Sunday 6 August, 2023, 10 am. Tickets here or book a private walk for your group.

Travels

A Wander Around York

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Took a day to go to York, principally to visit York Art Gallery’s Ruskin, Turner & The Storm Cloud exhibition after reading Suzanne Fagence Cooper’s excellent summary of the work of John Ruskin: To See Clearly.

York Art Gallery – well worth a visit (photo: Lucy Brouwer)

2019 marks 200 years since the birth of Ruskin, this exhibition looks at his way of seeing the world through drawing and writing about what he could see and how that made him appreciate the qualities of landscape, weather, buildings and artworks.

His thoughts on looking at nature, art and buildings were very influential in their day, both Watson Fothergill and Thomas Chambers Hine would have been aware of his writings on architecture and must surely have read The Stones of Venice, which shaped how Gothic architecture was seen in the 19th century. (Hine even had Ruskin’s autograph in his scrapbook.)

In the spirit of Ruskin, I have been encouraging people to “look up” and to notice the buildings that they might otherwise miss, with particular focus on the Victorian architecture in Nottingham. Since learning more about the Gothic Revivial and influences on Fothergill’s work, I find myself noticing buildings and spotting the style when out and about, thus it was in York.

York Magistrates Court, Clifford Street, York. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

Spotting these towers on the skyline I ventured to investigate. This is the York Magistrates Court (1890-92).

York Institute, Clifford Street, York (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

Next door, York Institute (1883-85), mixing Gothic Revival with an eastern influence.

I particularly liked these faintly byzantine kiosk finials. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

Barclays Bank, (1901) had some really striking terracotta with the colour marvellously preserved.

A little further on, came upon Barclays bank with some fantastic terracotta work. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

To shelter from the rain, we popped into the Merchant Adventurer’s Hall, a timber framed medieval hall, now a museum.

Merchant Adventurers’ Hall (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

When we reached York Art Gallery, to a look round the Ruskin, Turner & The Storm Cloud exhibition, I was delighted to find that Annie Creswick Dawson’s book about Benjamin Creswick (blogs passim) was on sale in the shop.

I was particularly struck by this quote from John Ruskin, which can be applied as much to myself as to Medieval stonemasons! (Photo: Lucy Brouwer
York Minster from York Art Gallery. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
York station, built on a curve. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

The more you start to look, the more you see the shapes of nature, the wonders of engineering and the beauty in the details.