Kelmscott Manor

Kelmscott Manor is a manor house built around 1570 for Richard Turner, with a major extension added around 1670, probably for Thomas Turner. The building underwent further additions and alterations in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Between 1871 and 1896, it was the home of William Morris, the celebrated writer, socialist and manufacturer.

The house is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble with alternating angle quoins, stone slate roofs with moulded coped verges, parapets and ball finials to the gables. The original house was U-shaped in plan, with a main range of three-unit through-passage type and gabled ranges projecting to the rear. In the late 17th century, it was extended at right angles to the east on the north side. The building has two storeys and attics.

East (Entrance) Front

The east front has three bays with mullioned windows topped by dripstones. The ground floor windows have four lights, the first floor three lights except for a central two-light window, and there are two-light windows to the prominent gabled full dormers on the left and right. The central entrance, marking the through-passage, has a stable door beneath a 19th-century slate-hung gabled trellised porch. Lead water spouts discharge at eaves level.

A prominent external end stack on the left has two detached diagonal shafts with moulded capping and rectangular windows to the left. A similar ridge stack on the right has three detached shafts.

The projecting T-shaped range to the north-east displays classical symmetry and apparently intentional entasis, with twin gables facing east and south. These gables each contain a four-light mullioned and transomed window on the ground floor and a three-light window on the first floor, both with dripstones, plus rectangular windows with eared architraves and pediments to the prominent gabled half-dormers. The projecting gable to the north has a narrow rectangular window on the ground floor, a three-light mullioned and transomed window with dripstone on the first floor, and a two-light mullioned window at the top, the latter two with dripstones. A valley stack has two detached diagonal shafts.

To the right is the north gable end of the 16th-century house, with a mullioned window to each floor and the outline of the original east wall visible to the left. A 17th-century pedimented window appears to the left on the first floor. Attached to the right corner of this gable end is a gabled porch dated "1966" with a contemporary lean-to to the right and a reused moulded wood door surround.

Immediately above the lean-to is a three-light mullioned window with the right label-stop cut by a full-height 17th-century gabled addition. This addition has two-light mullioned windows on the ground and second floors and a three-light mullioned window on the first floor, all with dripstones. A prominent external lateral stack to the right has two attached diagonal shafts with dripstone and moulded capping.

West Front

The west front has projecting gables to left and right (the left one longer) and a flush gable in the centre. All have two-, three- and four-light mullioned windows with dripstones to the attic, first floor and ground floor respectively, except for the right gable which has a half-glazed stable door in an earlier surround with a rectangular chamfered window to the right on the ground floor. Further mullioned windows appear on the returns of the projecting gables; the first-floor window on the right gable return is infilled.

A two-light mullioned window directly below the eaves to the right of the centre gable has a chamfered doorway (marking the through-passage) beneath it, with a moulded surround and stable door. Bracketed wooden gutters run along the eaves on this side and the north side. As on the other elevations, the mullioned windows contain a mixture of leaded and cast-iron casements.

Service Range

A late 18th- or early 19th-century service range is attached at an oblique angle to the south-west corner of the south projecting wing. It has an open lean-to on its north side supported on wooden posts with pad-stones, continuing around to the west side of the projecting wing. The service range itself has, from left to right: a half-glazed stable door, a boarded door, a two-light wooden mullioned window, a boarded door, a rectangular chamfered window with leaded casement, and a boarded door (the latter to the right of the lean-to, which stops before the end of the range). An ashlar ridge stack with moulded dripstone and capping stands to the left, and a red brick ridge stack to the right.

Interior

The screens-passage has plank and muntin partitions with cross rails on either side and four-panel doors opening into rooms to left and right.

To the right is the "old hall", which has a chamfered spine beam with stepped ogee stops and a stone fireplace with moulded Tudor arch. An 18th-century corner cupboard to the right features carved moulded shelves, panelled doors below and a dentilled cornice.

The room to the right of this (the "north or garden hall") has a chamfered spine beam on the same line as that in the previous room and a reassembled 17th-century oak partition (formerly glazed) with another spine beam above. A blocked window marks the former front wall.

The circa 1670 addition (the "panelled room") has 18th-century white-painted raised and fielded panelling with moulded cornice and a pilastered overmantel to a circa 1670 moulded stone fireplace decorated with festooned garlands and the Turner family coat-of-arms at the centre. Blue and white ceramic tiles in the fireplace splays are probably by Charles Marks of London. The wood-block floor continues into a closet to the north, which has display-shelving with fluted colonettes designed by Philip Webb.

To the left of the screens-passage is "the old kitchen", which has a chamfered spine beam with stepped ogee stops and an inglenook fireplace with damaged lintel. An oak winder staircase is located behind a door to the right. A chamfered spine beam also appears in the south gabled range (the "new kitchen").

The north gabled range (the "green room") has a stone fireplace with eared architrave, moulded decoration and the Turner family coat-of-arms to the centre. Blue and white ceramic tiles inside are by Morris and Webb. It has a chamfered spine beam with stepped stops and panelled shutters to the rear window. Panelled window shutters also appear in several other ground- and first-floor rooms.

Apart from the "panelled room" and the "green room" (which have floorboards), all ground-floor rooms have stone-flag floors installed by Morris.

A dog-leg staircase (circa 1570) to the right of the "green room" is approached through a round-headed wooden arch with dentilled band and carved pendant like those on the staircase itself. It has crudely turned balusters to a closed string with square newels, carved finials and pendants, and a moulded ramped wall string. At the head of the staircase is a massive plank door with fleur-de-lys pointed strap hinges.

First Floor

Over the "green room" is "Mrs Morris's bedroom", approached through a plank and muntin door. It has a chamfered cross-beam ceiling with the main beam running along the axis of the gable, and a stone fireplace with Tudor arch. Wide floorboards in this and all first-floor and attic rooms were renewed or inserted around 1964.

"Morris's bedroom" to the right of the staircase to the attic has a Tudor-arched stone fireplace with an inserted 19th-century Gothic-style cast-iron grate. It has a chamfered spine beam with stops and a massive door, panelled on one side and of plank construction on the other.

A straight flight of four wooden steps leads up to the "tapestry room" in the circa 1670 addition. This has a fireplace, including tiles by Marks, similar to the one in the "panelled room" below but narrower and without festooned garlands, though it has the same floral motifs to the sides. The Turner family armorial crest (dated 1663), different from the one in the room below, appears at the centre. It has fluted pilasters to the overmantel and wood cornice like the room below, but has only battens for wall panelling, suggesting that this was never completed and that the room has always been tapestry-hung. An 18th-century panelled door is present.

The room over the "old hall" has an Art Nouveau cast-iron fireplace of circa 1890 said to be designed by Crosswaites of Thornaby-on-Tees, and a chamfered cross-beam ceiling with an inserted cross wall separating it from the present bathroom.

The room over the "old kitchen" has another Art Nouveau fireplace and a chamfered cross-beam ceiling with straight-cut stops. A similar ceiling appears in the room over the "new kitchen".

Attic

The attic is reached from a steep straight-flight staircase (dating from 1964) to the right of the main staircase. It has a double-purlin collar truss roof with carved decoration to the collars in four bays to the main range, and similar roofs to the rear projecting gables, with original rafters.

The 17th-century addition to the north-east has a contemporary short straight-flight staircase up to each gable with turned balusters to an open string, moulded handrail and square chamfered newels with later finials. Several 17th-century plank doors and plain window shutters survive. An infilled Tudor-arched fireplace to the south end of the main range has an oak winder staircase down to the first floor to the right.

Service Range Interior

The service range has a brewhouse in the second room from the west. This contains a large open fireplace with a bread oven to the left and an integral semi-circular chimney above (the curved back visible in the room to the west). Circular copper sinks with furnaces below stand on either side. The room also has a stone sink and a lead water pump. It has a stone-flag floor and a double-purlin collar and tie beam roof extending in five bays over the whole range.

The house contains furniture and textiles, much of it designed by Morris and his associates but mostly brought in from elsewhere during the 20th century.