Wightwick Manor

Wightwick Manor
Wightwick Manor, 2016
LocationWightwick Bank
Coordinates52°35′00″N 2°11′40″W / 52.5834°N 2.1944°W / 52.5834; -2.1944
OS grid referenceSO 86946 98441
AreaWolverhampton
Built1887–1893
ArchitectEdward Ould
Architectural style(s)"Old English" Tudor Revival
Arts and Crafts
OwnerNational Trust
Listed Building – Grade I
Reference no.1201902
Reference no.1001421
Wightwick Manor is located in West Midlands county
Wightwick Manor
Location of Wightwick Manor in West Midlands county
Leonard Shuffrey's dining room plaster frieze and strap-work ceiling at Wightwick Manor

Wightwick Manor (/ˈwɪtɪk/ WIT-ik[1]) is a Victorian house in Wightwick Bank, a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It was commissioned in 1887 from the architect Edward Ould by Theodore Mander of Mander Brothers, 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.[2]

The house is significant as an example of a domestic building constructed, decorated, and furnished under the influence of the Aesthetic movement and Arts and Crafts movement.[3] It contains many examples of the works of William Morris and his firm Morris & Co., including wall hangings, wallpapers, and upholstery; tiles designed by William De Morgan; and stained glass designed by Charles Kempe. It also contains Pre-Raphaelite works of art, including works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Evelyn De Morgan, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, John Everett Millais, Elizabeth Siddal, and Leonard Shuffrey.[3]

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 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.[4]

  1. ^ "Wightwick Manor Introductory Video". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  2. ^ "OLD MANOR HOUSE TO NORTH OF WIGHTWICK MANOR, Non Civil Parish - 1201904 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b Greeves, Lydia (2005). History and Landscape: The Guide to National Trust Properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. National Trust Books. p. 429. ISBN 1-905400-13-6.
  4. ^ "The Gallery at Wightwick | West Midlands". National Trust. Retrieved 27 February 2024.