Owlpen Manor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Owlpen Manor |
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Owlpen Manor from the south, with Court House (left) and church
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Tudor vernacular |
| Town or city | Owlpen |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°41′1″N 2°17′27″W / 51.68361°N 2.29083°W |
| Construction started | 1450 |
| Completed | 1616 |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Cotswold stone cruck trusses stone tiled roof |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Norman Jewson (1926 repairs) |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name | Owlpen Manor |
| Designated | 23 June 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1152317 |
| Official name | Owlpen Manor |
| Designated | 28 February 1986 |
| Reference no. | 1000480 |
Owlpen Manor is a beautiful old house in Gloucestershire, England. It's a special type of historic home called a manor house, and it's owned by the Mander family. It sits in a lovely valley in the Cotswolds, an area known for its amazing natural beauty. The manor is about 1 mi (1.6 km) east of Uley and 3 mi (4.8 km) east of Dursley. It's considered a Grade I listed building, which means it's a very important historic site.
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History of Owlpen Manor
This old house has parts that date back to the 1200s! Most of it was built or rebuilt by the Daunt family between 1464 and 1616, during the Tudor period. After that, it didn't change much, except for some updates in the early 1700s. Thomas Daunt IV improved the east wing, gardens, church, and Grist Mill between 1719 and 1726.
Early Beginnings
The name Owlpen (pronounced "Ole-pen") might come from a Saxon chief named Olla. He may have set up his "pen," or enclosure, near the springs under the manor around the 800s.
Records show that the de Olepenne family lived at Owlpen by 1174. They were local landowners who helped out abbeys and hospitals. They also worked for their powerful overlords, the Berkeleys of Berkeley Castle. The de Olepenne family held Owlpen from the Berkeleys.
The Tudor Era at Owlpen
In 1464, the de Olepenne family line ended after twelve generations. The manor then passed to the Daunt family when Margery de Olepenne married John Daunt. The Daunts were cloth makers who had lived in Wotton-under-Edge since the 1300s.
The Daunts changed the medieval manor house. They added a ceiling in the great hall in 1523 and rebuilt a part of the west wing in 1616. The Daunt family owned Owlpen until 1803, when the male line ended again.
Owlpen in the 1800s
In the 1800s, the manor faced some tough times. The Stoughton family inherited it in 1815. They built a new mansion called Owlpen House around 1848, about a mile east of the old manor. This new house was designed in the Italianate style. It was later taken down in 1955–56.
The Church of the Holy Cross, located behind the manor house, was also rebuilt in 1828 and 1874.
Owlpen in the 1900s
By the late 1800s, the old manor became a symbol for the Arts and Crafts movement. Writers described it as a "sleeping beauty" because it had been empty for almost a hundred years. It was a beautiful ruin, covered in ivy and surrounded by huge yew trees.
After World War I, people worried about the manor's future. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings suggested the National Trust take it over. However, the National Trust didn't have money for repairs.
Finally, in 1924–25, the Owlpen estate was sold for the first time in almost a thousand years. The manor house was saved when Norman Jewson, an architect from the Cotswolds, bought and repaired it. Jewson was part of the Arts and Crafts movement. In 1930, his friend, the artist F. L. Griggs, dedicated an etching of Owlpen Manor to Jewson for saving the house. Jewson wrote about his repair work in his book, By Chance I did Rove.
Owlpen Manor was officially recognized as a Grade I listed building on June 23, 1952.
Owlpen Today
Today, Owlpen Manor is the home of Sir Nicholas and Lady Karin Mander and their family. Since 1974, they have worked hard to repair the manor house, its other buildings, and the surrounding estate. They have also brought back the beautiful formal gardens and added family collections.
The manor has some rare painted cloth wall-hangings from around 1700. These show scenes from the life of Joseph from the Bible. The house also features Tudor wall paintings, wood panels, and plasterwork.
The manor house and gardens have been open to the public since 1966.
Gardens of Owlpen
The formal terraced gardens at Owlpen, with their yew topiary (shaped bushes), are also listed as historic. A landscape historian named Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe said they are one of the oldest continuously cared-for gardens in England. They were likely designed in their current form around 1620.
Many famous garden writers, like Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville-West, admired them. Since 1980, the gardens have been restored and expanded. New box hedges, many trees, and a walk around the Georgian mill pond and pear lake have been added.
The Owlpen Estate
The Owlpen estate is managed using organic and sustainable methods. It has rich permanent pasture and meadowland, surrounded by ancient woodland near Owlpen Manor. There are also traditional farm buildings and cottages. Some old strip fields on the estate date back to medieval times.
Nine historic cottages on the estate are available for holiday stays. These include a Grist Mill (from 1728), the Court House or Banqueting House (from the 1620s), a Tithe Barn (from 1446), and old weavers' cottages.
There is also a restaurant in the late medieval cyder house, which dates back to 1446. In 2020, it was expanded to host weddings, concerts, and other events.
Owlpen in Media
Owlpen Manor has inspired many poems and stories. It's been featured in novels by authors like Kate Riordan, Dinah Jefferies, and Katie Fforde.
In recent years, Owlpen Manor has been a filming location for many TV shows and movies. These include Most Haunted (in 2004), Countryfile, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Watercolour Challenge. It has also appeared in antique, cooking, gardening, travel, and art programs.
Owlpen Manor was used as Bramscote Court in the BBC's drama Tess of the d'Urbervilles in 2008. It also briefly appeared in Becoming Jane, a film about the life of novelist Jane Austen. In 2017, the manor house and estate were major locations for the film Phantom Thread, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
Famous Quotes About Owlpen
- "The loveliest place in England" – Fodor's Britain Guide, 2002
- "The epitome of the English village" – HRH The Prince of Wales, A Vision of Britain, 1989
- "Owlpen in Gloucestershire —ah! What a dream is there!" – Vita Sackville-West, English Country Houses, 1941
- "The ruinous little old manor-house with its old hanging gardens of the 16th or 17th century, tidy & sweet & splendid ... a paradise incomparable on earth. Only a poet could describe it" – Algernon Charles Swinburne letter to William Morris, 28 October 1894
Literature About Owlpen
- Nicholas Mander, Varnished leaves : a biography of the Mander family of Wolverhampton, 1750–1950. Dursley: Owlpen Press. 2004. ISBN: 0-9546056-0-8.
- Nicholas Mander, Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire: a short history and guide to a romantic Tudor manor house in the Cotswolds. (current edition: 2006).
- Nicholas Mander, Country Houses of the Cotswolds (Aurum Press, 2008) ISBN: 1845133315
- Norman Jewson, By Chance I did Rove (Cirencester, 1951, 1973; Barnsley 1986)
- Nicholas Kingsley, The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, Volume One, 1500-1660 (1989), pp. 142-4
- Hugh E. Pagan, Owlpen Manor (1966, reprinted 1975)
- The Rev. John Daunt, Some Account of the Family of Daunt (Newcastle, 1881; Scarborough, 1899)
Famous Quotes About Owlpen
- "The loveliest place in England" – Fodor's Britain Guide, 2002
- "The epitome of the English village" – HRH The Prince of Wales, A Vision of Britain, 1989
- "Owlpen in Gloucestershire —ah! What a dream is there!" – Vita Sackville-West, English Country Houses, 1941
- "The ruinous little old manor-house with its old hanging gardens of the 16th or 17th century, tidy & sweet & splendid ... a paradise incomparable on earth. Only a poet could describe it" – Algernon Charles Swinburne letter to William Morris, 28 October 1894
