Wednesday 20th May, Buscot
A late, leisurely breakfast at 9.30am was the starting point for this morning; Kelmscott Manor did not open until 11.00am, we were some ten minutes walk away.
The name Kelmscot is spelt that way on the OS maps, but the manor house has two ‘T’s.
The Manor house is a grade 1 listed Tudor farmhouse built of limestone in 1570 by a wealthy farmer, Richard Taylor, with an additional North east wing added in about 1665.
William Morris, founder of the arts and crafts movement, whilst at Oxford, met Edward Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rosetti; with whom he signed a joint lease on the manor house in 1871. William is said to have loved the unspoilt honesty of the building from which he drew inspiration for his poems and fabric designs.
William Morris developed serious Kidney disease in 1891; eventually he died on 3rd October 1896. He is buried in Kelmscot churchyard.
In 1913, his widow Jane purchased the house, which remained in the family until the death in 1938 of May, their daughter.
Having paid our money (No concessions, apart from ½ price admission for helpers of wheelchair bound people), we were handed timed tickets for 12 noon; had a wander around the grounds and a cup of tea before looking around the house.
There were some very nice pieces of furniture, including a lot of plain well built oak tables. We were told that William Morris had asked for plain tables to enable work on cloth to be carried out and for ease of cleaning afterwards. The house had homely feel about it, with a myriad of interestingly shaped garret rooms.
The garden was a passion of William’s and its ordered structure was to his design.
There is a large Mulberry tree which dates from around 1660, which still produces some 200lbs of fruit each year, most of which is lost to birds and over ripening, which can take place in a matter of hours.
We returned to Martlet and moved off, heading for the moorings above Buscot lock which was today in the charge of relief keeper David. He had remembered Myra from Grafton lock two years ago when the resident keeper, Keith, had given her some Rhubarb, amazing the things that remain in the memory!
We tied up above the lock, from where tomorrow, we can reach Lechlade in about 30 minutes.
2009 Totals – Locks 178; Miles 324; Bus pass uses 2.
