We are delighted to announce that the National Trust has successfully acquired Stoneywell, one of the country’s rare surviving examples of an Arts and Crafts House complete with many original contents and fascinating archive.
The south front of Stoneywell, Leicestershire. National Trust/Andrew Butler
This will be our first house in Leicestershire and only the third place in the county in our ownership. Stoneywell will join Staunton Harold Church and Ulverscroft Nature Reserve.
Stoneywell in Ulverscroft, Leicestershire, was designed and built in 1899 by one of the leading architects of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Leicester-born Ernest Gimson (1864 – 1919), for his elder brother Sydney and wife Jeanie.
Ernest Gimson
It is Grade II* listed, and has remained almost unaltered in the Gimson family until now, along with many original items of furniture created for the house by Gimson and his peers. Incredible items include a Sidney Barnsley dining table and a set of Ernest Gimson ladderback chairs. Something really special is a carved coffer bearing the embryo oak leaf that went on to become the iconic National Trust logo that you see today, after a competition it ran in the 1930s to find a motif.
View of the gardens and tennis court from the second floor window. National Trust/Andrew Butler
The cottage is surrounded by four acres of gardens and set alongside eleven acres of SSSI woodland.
We launched a fundraising appeal to acquire and open Stoneywell in September 2012 to help secure its future. To date, over £500,000 has been raised. However, further fundraising is needed to enable the Trust to make repairs, to put visitor facilities in place and allow Stoneywell to open to the public in 2014.
BBC Antiques Roadshow’s, Lars Tharp, a local to Leicestershire since childhood and a fan of the wider Arts and Crafts Movement, is championing our campaign to open Stoneywell to the public:
Lars Tharp at Stoneywell. National Trust/Jon Hiendmarch
“I am delighted that the National Trust has acquired Stoneywell. This rare survivor of a golden age vividly transports us to period of pre-war, Edwardian innocence. Lovingly built for his brother’s family, this Gimson gem is a magical home set in an enchanted part of Leicestershire.
“Stoneywell is the perfect adventure house with its light filled rooms, warren of twisting stairs and surprising angles. And outside you can almost fancy the echoes of children at play, of Christopher Robin’s friends or the rustle of characters from the world of Beatrix Potter. It’s a place made even more vivid by the surviving Gimson family archives in which the domestic lives and the underlying currents of the Arts and Crafts Movement – the love of place and of honest, natural materials – can clearly be seen. I think anybody coming here will be absolutely entranced.”
The acquisition has been made possible thanks to support from The Monument Trust and J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, coupled with generous donations from local supporters and a gift from the Gimson family themselves.
Our Regional Director Rebecca Speight explains:
“We are thrilled to have acquired Stoneywell and to be able to save something very special for ever, for everyone.
“Our ownership will ensure that the house, stables, gardens and woodland retain their conservation significance for future generations to enjoy. The property is a wonderful addition to the National Trust’s portfolio and a significant acquisition for Leicestershire, making it only the second built property we care for in this county. We are extremely grateful to the Gimson family for giving us the opportunity to acquire Stoneywell and for their own generosity.
“Stoneywell is really magical but looking after special places is expensive and as a charity the National Trust relies hugely on donations and legacies. We are extremely grateful for whatever support people are able to give.
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Stoneywell 