WIGHTWICK MANOR (pronounced "Wittick")
This remarkable building is a mock Tudor Victorian Manor house near Wolverhampton, built in 1887 and
extended in 1893. It was presented to the National Trust by Sir Geoffrey Mander, an industrialist and radical
Liberal MP, in 1937 amid some controversy over the Trust accepting a house that was only 50 years old.
Apparently some descendants of the family retain rooms in the manor to this day, made possible by the
provisions of the National Trust Act 1937 which meant that a family donating their property to the Trust did
not have to pay death duties but could continue to live in the property rent free for two generations and
thereafter at a market rent.
But mock is mock and it is the interior that commands the real interest. This is a feast of the Arts and Crafts
movement of William Morris et al. together with PreRaphaelite works of art. One of the guides recounted to
me the day that she had shown that doyen of “PreRaph” collectors, Andrew Lloyd Webber, around the
house and that he had been moved to tears.
Wightwick illustrates the whole gamut of late Victorian design and it appears that Theodore Mander, father
of Geoffrey and the original ‘builder’ of the house, was inspired to decorate the interiors with the designs of
William Morris following a lecture on "The House Beautiful" by Oscar Wilde!
The House Beautiful…
…and PreRaphaelite fantasy
with William Morris wallpaper
WIGHTWICK MANOR (pronounced "Wittick")
This remarkable building is a mock Tudor Victorian Manor
house near Wolverhampton, built in 1887 and extended in
1893. It was presented to the National Trust by Sir Geoffrey
Mander, an industrialist and radical Liberal MP, in 1937 amid
some controversy over the Trust accepting a house that was
only 50 years old.
Apparently some descendants of the family retain rooms in
the manor to this day, made possible by the provisions of the
National Trust Act 1937 which meant that a family donating
their property to the Trust did not have to pay death duties
but could continue to live in the property rent free for two
generations and thereafter at a market rent.
But mock is mock and it is the interior that commands the real
interest. This is a feast of the Arts and Crafts movement of
William Morris et al. together with PreRaphaelite works of art.
One of the guides recounted to me the day that she had shown
that doyen of “PreRaph” collectors, Andrew Lloyd Webber,
around the house and that he had been moved to tears.
Wightwick illustrates the whole gamut of late Victorian design
and it appears that Theodore Mander, father of Geoffrey and
the original ‘builder’ of the house, was inspired to decorate the
interiors with the designs of William Morris following a
lecture on "The House Beautiful" by Oscar Wilde!
The House Beautiful…
…and PreRaphaelite fantasy
with William Morris wallpaper
