Stoneywell – 7 August 2019

Wed 7 August 2019

The Arts and Crafts was a British art and design movement which went international.

Growing from a desire to revive the skill of craftsmanship, the Arts and Crafts philosophy aimed to restore simplicity and honesty to how buildings and furnishings were made. The Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction against industrialisation and mass production in the Victorian era.

Although it was at its height between about 1895 and 1915, its origins lie a little earlier with the great thinkers John Ruskin and William Morris, who railed against what they felt were the evils of mass industrialisation and machine production.

Stoneywell was designed by Ernest Gimson in 1898.

 

There are eleven rooms built on 7 levels.

The furniture was made without nails or screws and was jointed, simple and very solid.

 

The house has interesting windows and room shapes.

 

Items were made from natural materials such as wood and metal.

 

There was a train set which was one of the earliest electric models.

The pantry was dug out of the rock and still floods today. Last week the water was wellie height.

House visits are by guided tour only and must be booked on-line in advance.

Later we also went on a garden tour.

We very much enjoyed the house and its collection of furniture and felt it was very different from many of the National trust stately home type properties.