Snowshill Manor

Snowshill Manor
250px Snowshill Manor from the front
Location

Snowshill Manor is a National Trust property located in the village of Snowshill, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.

Manor house

The property is located in Snowshill. It is a typical Cotswold manor house, made from local stone; the main part of the house dates from the 16th century.

Snowshill Manor was the property of Winchcombe Abbey from 821 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 when the Abbey was confiscated by King Henry VIII. Between 1539 and 1919 it had a number of tenants and owners until it was purchased by Charles Paget Wade, an architect, artist-craftsman, collector, poet and heir to the family fortune. He restored the property, living in the small cottage in the garden and using the manor house as a home for his collection of objects. He gave the property and the contents of this collection to the National Trust in 1951.

The property is now owned by the National Trust.

Collections

The house contains an eclectic collection of thousands of objects, collated by Charles Paget Wade, whose motto was "Let nothing perish". The collection includes toys; Samurai armour; musical instruments; and clocks.

Today, the main attraction of the house is perhaps the display of Wade's collection. From 1900 until 1951, when he gave the Manor to the National Trust, Wade amassed an enormous and eclectic collection of objects reflecting his interest in craftsmanship. The objects in the collection include 26 suits of Japanese samurai armour dating from the 17th and 19th centuries; bicycles; toys; musical instruments and more. On 5 October 2003, the house was closed and its entire contents removed in order to effect a number of repairs. In particular, the electrical wiring needed updating, new fire, security and environmental monitoring systems were installed, and the existing lighting was improved. The house reopened on 25 March 2005.

Priest's House

Wade lived in the Priest's House.

Garden

The garden at Snowshill was laid out by Wade, in collaboration with Arts and Crafts movement architect, M. H. Baillie Scott, between 1920 and 1923 as a series of outside rooms seen as an extension to the house. Features include terraces and ponds.