Bantock House Museum and Park facts for kids
 |
|
| Established | 1938 |
|---|---|
| Location | Finchfield, Wolverhampton |
| Type | Local history |
| Area | 48 acres (194,249 m2) |
Bantock House Museum and Park is a special place in Wolverhampton, England. It's a museum that shows what life was like during the Edwardian era, which was a long time ago! The museum is surrounded by a huge park, about 48 acres big. It's named after Alderman Baldwin and Kitty Bantock, who used to live in the house. Today, the museum and park are looked after by Wolverhampton City Council.
Contents
The Story of Bantock House
The house was first built in the 1730s. Back then, it was a farm called New Merridale Farm. Around the early 1800s, a man named Thomas Herrick made the house bigger and better. He even changed its name to Merridale House.
Over the years, different people lived in the house. Then, in 1864, Thomas Bantock bought it. He worked with canals and railways. His son, Albert Baldwin Bantock, took over the property after his father passed away in 1896.
Albert Baldwin Bantock made even more improvements to the house. He was a very important person in Wolverhampton. He was the Mayor of Wolverhampton two times! He also held the special role of High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1920.
When Albert Baldwin Bantock passed away in 1938, he didn't have any children. So, he gave the house and the park to Wolverhampton Corporation. In 1940, the house was renamed Bantock House in his honor. It is now a Grade II listed building, which means it's a very important historical building.
Inside Bantock House Museum
Bantock House is now a museum where you can learn about the Bantock family and other important people from the local area. On the ground floor, you can see how the Bantock family lived. It's like stepping back in time!
Upstairs, the museum focuses on the people who helped shape Wolverhampton. You can discover the amazing industries they created. There are displays of beautiful local enamels, shiny steel jewellery, and special japanned ware.
The museum is unique because it doesn't use many glass cases. Instead, it feels more like a home. Visitors are even allowed to sit on some of the furniture! This helps you imagine what it was like to live there.
Bantock House Gardens
The gardens around Bantock House were designed by Albert Baldwin Bantock himself. In 1998, Wolverhampton City Council brought the gardens back to their original look. This means visitors today can see the different garden areas just as Baldwin created them.
Behind the house, there's a special sunken garden called the Dutch Garden. There's also a lovely rose garden filled with many kinds of roses. Some of them have interesting names like Blythe Spirit and Glamis Castle. You can also find colorful flower borders and a woodland garden. The woodland garden is now part of a nature trail that goes around the park.
Bantock Park Activities
Bantock Park is a large green space with 48 acres of land. It's a great place for outdoor fun! The park has a play area for children, an 18-hole golf course, a putting green, and football fields.
The Bantock family used to raise Highland cattle. These cows are thought to have roamed the park grounds until the 1930s. To remember these cows, a local artist named Neil Watt made a cow sculpture. You can see this sculpture at the front of the house today.
