November 18th 2010: Gimson and Barnsleys
Dave Walton, a volunteer at Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery and a committed Arts and Craft enthusiast,
entertained over fifty members and visitors at the meeting on November 18th with a highly informative and
interesting talk about the life and work of Ernest Gimson, and Ernest and Sidney Barnsley in the Cotswolds.
They came to this area of Gloucestershire to escape from the industrial conurbations with which they were
familiar and the rural Cotswolds were hugely influential on their designs.
The three men were all architects as well as craftsmen and designed their own houses in Sapperton as well
as many other buildings in the area. They employed many craftsmen and were able to use local expertise to aid them.
Gimson carried out some decorative plasterwork at Upper Dorval House in Sapperton for Ernest Barnsley which was
inspired by the C16 ceilings at Daneway house.
Eventually the partnership broke down, but they all continued to work in the area and there are many
small local buildings which show examples of their influence.
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Dave showed many pictures of their work, several examples of which are on show in Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery.
Unfortunately the Arts and Crafts Gallery has just closed for refurbishment, but FHS is planning a visit to
Rodmarton Manor in the Spring for members. Ernest Barnsley designed the manor house which took over twenty
years to complete Barnsley. The work at Rodmarton was continued after Ernest Barnsleys death in 1926 by his
brother Sidney who died later the same year, and the project was then completed by Norman Jewson who was Ernest's son-in -law.
In 1919 Ernest Gimson designed Fairford’s War Memorial (right), originally intended for the Market Place,
he died suddenly a few weeks later. The work was supervised by Norman Jewson and the cross made in
Fairford by Farmer Bros, stonemasons. It was dedicated in 1920. See the plan and signature below.
Peter Waals, who worked closey with Ernest Gimson and carried on the workshops at Daneway
after Gimson’s death and subsequently Hallidays Mill at Chalford, married a Fairford girl,
Ruby Dora Bryan daughter of a Fairford draper in Fairford Church in 1903.
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If you would like to learn more about the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotwolds, please see below:
http://gimson.leicester.gov.uk/
http://www.owlpen.com/gimson.shtml
http://www.barnsley-furniture.co.uk/superbasket/
Gimson and the Barnsleys by Mary Comino. Evans Bros. 1980
By chance I did rove by Norman Jewson.. Privately published. 3rd ed 1973
Cotswolds arts and craft architecture by Catherine Gordon. Phillimore 2009
The arts and crafts movement in the Cotswolds by Mary Greensted. Alan Sutton. 1996
September 16th 2010: Swing Riots
On November 26th 1830 over one hundred agricultural workers stormed through Fairford with the
intent to destroy 'thrashing machines'. At workshops of John Savory and Richard Rose they caused
about £85 worth of damage each and a chaff-cutting machine worth £3 was destroyed at the home of
Joseph Jenkyns. Seventeen men were arrested and four of them were later sentenced to transportation
to Australia. Similar events had been happening throughout neighbouring counties and on up to Norfolk.
The government, after initially ignoring the events, decided to act quickly and rioters were tried
and convicted all within the space of six months. The events were called the 'Swing Riots' as
threatening letters signed by a fictitious 'Captain Swing' had been sent to the owners of
thrashing machines. At this time most southern English agricultural workers were suffering from
serious hardship; they were poorly paid, the cost of bread and rents were high, there had been two
poor harvests, and increasing mechanisation reduced the amount of paid work available, particularly
threshing which was the main task during the winter. This drove the men to this action.
Those that could be identified during the riot in Fairford were arrested and charged. Three men
from Fairford were sentenced to seven years transportation: John Mitchell, Robert Cowley and
Christopher Ponting, a fourth, Isaac Boulton, was also convicted but his sentence commuted.
Jill Chambers, the author of a series of county-based books who has been studying the subject
for 25 years, gave an extremely interesting and informative account of the wider picture and the
specific events in Fairford - see her website
www.swingriotsriotersblacksheepsearch.com
for further details and her book Gloucestershire Machine Breakers, a new edition of which
is coming out soon.
FHS were very pleased to welcome two great-great-grandchildren of Christopher Ponting who made
a special visit from Sussex to attend this meeting and afterwards presented FHS with a copy of the
Ponting Family Tree.
JUNE 17th 2010 AGM
At the AGM on June 17th the Committee was elected as previously. Doug Newton gave an interesting talk.
He was part of the Concorde Flight Testing team at RAF Fairford and is now the mainstay of the Concorde
Association. Members enjoyed information from ‘behind the scenes’ and nostalgic photographs of a triumph
of British engineering. The short film at the end of the talk was especially enjoyable as a reminiscence
of the world’s most aesthetic aircraft.
FEBRUARY 18TH 2010 ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM
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At the February meeting Jude Barrett, an Education Officer from Oxford's Ashmolean Museum of Art
and Archaeology, talked to the society about their £61 million redevelopment project. The presentation
covered a brief history of the museum and details of the refurbishment and also illuminated some of the
highlights of their collections and the new ways in which they are presented.
The museum was first opened in 1683 to house the collection of Elias Ashmole, which consisted of
his own original acquisitions and those of John Tradescant and son of the same name. The collection grew
with additions from many sources until it was split in the late-19th Century with art and antiquities
remaining in the Ashmolean on its present site.
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Part of the interior of the newly refurbished Ashmolean Museum
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Zeus from Artemision (c.470) statue
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Historically, the fabric of the museum and the
things in it was shaped by Ashmole's bequest and subsequent donations. However, the refurbishment has
allowed the museum to be reshaped to fit the new display strategy of 'Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time'.
To achieve this, exhibits on the lower ground floor illustrate objects and activities common to different
cultures. Following this the ground floor represents the Ancient World of Europe, China and North Africa.
The first floor illustrates Asian Crossroads: Eastern Art, artifacts from India, the Islamic Middle East
and the Mediterranean area. The second floor explores the topic West meets East, including European
ceramics, Renaissance and Baroque art, more items from Japan and China and the 'England 400–1600' room
where some of the items excavated from Fairford's Anglo-Saxon Cemetery are displayed. The third floor
houses modern art.
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The museum's frontispiece, the Cockerell Building built in 1845, and which
also houses the University's Modern Languages Faculty (the Taylorian), has not been replaced. A new
building designed by architect Rick Mather has replaced other buildings added piecemeal over the
museum's long history. Excavation of the site allowed the basement level area to expand and, with
the new building works completed, the floor space of the museum has greatly increased.
The redevelopment provided an opportunity for the site to be examined by
Oxford Archaeology who uncovered some medieval pottery and
waste pits. The refurbishment began in 2004 with museum items being placed in storage, which has
provided an opportunity for conservation work to take place. Internal and external demolition
followed from 2006 leading to the Museum's ten-month closure before reopening in November 2009.
Jude's presentation highlighted the difficulties of construction and access in a city centre site.
She also spoke about the new state-of-the-art environmentally controlled display cabinets designed
to aid the conservation of exhibits
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Runestone from Sweden
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Part of the Anglo-Saxon display including brooches from Fairford
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The speaker's highlights of the museum included:
the
clay pithos with octopus design excavated from Knossos, Crete;
Powhatan's Mantle,
a deerskin decorated with shells that belonged to the father of Pocahontas;
an early
Cycladic figurine thought to be a votive offering;
Paolo Uccello's
Hunt in the forest an early renaissance painting demonstrating the use of perspective.
The speaker also brought replicas of Anglo-Saxon items the
Alfred Jewel
and the Cuddesdon Bowl
which were passed around the room. The Museum anticipates the opening of study rooms with accessible storage of items, such as those from Fairford,
that are not on general display.
The presentation was very informative and whetted the appetite of those in the audience for a trip to
Oxford.
Further information
Ashmolean
Ashmolean - wikipedia
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Meeting Reports for 2009
Meeting Reports for 2007 and 2008
Meeting Reports for 2006
Meeting Reports for 2004 and 2005
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