Wightwick Manor
Wightwick Manor is a late Victorian manor house, located on Wightwick Bank, in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. It was built in the 19th century by a local industrialist.
Wightwick Manor is a Grade I listed building, in the care of the National Trust. Its ground floor is redbrick with bay windows and climbing plants. The first floor and attic are whitewashed with a gorgeous and elegant timberwork, forming various designs on the white facade, from sinuous lines to four-leaf-clovers. The mouldings display magnificent wood stuccos, from grape vines to carved bats on the corners, to the superb lacery of the roof trim.
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The later, eastern half of the house is heavily adorned, inspired by the Tudor buildings of the Welsh Marches.
The red brick Tudor chimneys are also peculiar in shape, convoluted with a dentilled top. Their flowing gothic design demonstrates the medieval influences adopted by the Pre-Raphaelites.
Wightwick Manor is one of the few remaining and probably the best example of a house furnished under the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement.
Its interiors feature heavy wooden paneling, insinuating a somber gothic atmosphere, but also rooms flooded with light, beautifully stenciled plaster ceilings with flowers and wheat-sheaf, inspiring mottos painted on the walls and romantic, white and blue galleon tiled fireplaces. The rooms display wallpapers, furnishings and fabrics designed by William Morris, tiles and ceramics illustrating birds and beasts, by William De Morgan and wonderful stained glass by Charles Kempe.
The Great Parlour presents itself with a vaulted ceiling, frieze and wooden panels, curtains of Tulip and Rose woven wool and brass chandeliers, impressive through its scale and magnificence.
The rich and beautiful interiors are decorated with Pre-Raphaelite works of art, by painters Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
The bedrooms upstairs feature splendid embroideries and oak furniture, painted with medieval scenes in Pre-Raphaelite style.
Also open for visit is a nursery, showing a selection of toys from the 1880 to the 1950s.
The property has beautiful Grade II listed Victorian and Arts and Crafts gardens stretching over seven hectares. You can enjoy homemade snacks in the Tea Room. There is also an Arts and Crafts gift shop and a secondhand book shop.