Nestled in a wooded, secret valley of the Cotswolds, near Uley, Owlpen Manor is the archetype of the rural Tudor house: a grey stone house, surrounded by clipped yews, remodelled over more than a century by one and the same family. It keeps rare treasures of the domestic décor of the English Renaissance.
A manor remodelled by the Daunts
Of medieval origin (around 1270), Owlpen was deeply remodelled in Tudor times by the Daunt family, who owned it from 1464 to the eighteenth century. The remodelling spread over the whole period: the Great Hall bears the date 1523, and the parlour/solar block was rebuilt in 1616. This long campaign of works, generation after generation, is typical of the way English houses grew: not at a stroke, but by successive additions, matching the enrichment and the evolving taste of a line.
The painted cloths, a rare décor
Owlpen keeps a rare treasure: painted cloths and Tudor wall paintings. These painted cloths — wall hangings less costly than tapestries, adorned with biblical or allegorical scenes — were very widespread in Renaissance houses, but extremely fragile: almost all have vanished. Those of Owlpen are among the few survivors in England, a precious testimony of how domestic interiors of the time were really decorated. To see: the Great Hall with its ceiling dated 1523, the painted cloths and Tudor wall paintings, the formal gardens with clipped yews, the tithe barn (1446), the church of Holy Cross.
Did you know?
Owlpen keeps painted cloths, a type of wall décor once very widespread but today almost entirely vanished: cheaper than tapestries, these cloths adorned the walls of thousands of Tudor houses, but their fragility has condemned almost all of them. Shakespeare himself alludes to them. To still possess some makes Owlpen an exceptional witness of what a Renaissance English interior really was.
Notes
Owlpen Manor lies at Owlpen, near Uley, Gloucestershire (Stroud district); a private house and gardens open to the public seasonally. Hours to check.
Quiz
- Which family remodelled Owlpen in Tudor times?
- The Daunts
- The Poyntz
- The Berkeleys
- From when does the Great Hall date?
- From 1523
- From the year 1000
- From 1900
- Which rare décor does Owlpen keep?
- Painted cloths
- Roman mosaics
- Gothic stained glass