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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
The purpose of this article is to make available some interesting documentary material which has come to light concerning Webb’s restoration of Forthampton Court for J. R. Yorke between 1889 and 1892. The letters and other material illuminate Webb’s attitude to the restoration of a historic building at a time when he was closely involved with the work of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. The very extensive alterations and additions that Webb made at Forthampton indicate both the care taken in preserving the character, aspect and individual features of the medieval house (while sacrificing eighteenth-century work), and, equally important, his concern to provide the accommodation, decoration and comfort required by his client. The house as he left it has been further altered over the years, but enough survives today to explain the deep satisfaction expressed by the architect over his work there. He wrote in 1891:
Indeed Mrs Yorke, I think you should rejoice in your fine old house. No new house, even if built by a much better architect than the one you accidentally employed, could give you half the satisfaction that the old one must. Never mind if people gape and jeer at its beauty, its very beauty would be sufficient cause in them. It is the house, of all I have had to deal with professionally, which it is a pleasure to me to think of. In addition to which I can — with good taste — praise it!
1 I am indebted to Gerald Yorke for drawing my attention to this material, and for considerable help with unravelling the history of the house. The brief account above is based on a folder of fifteen letters from Webb to Mr and Mrs J. R. Yorke between 18 September 1889 and 24 December 1892, and a folder of accounts and other material relating to Webb’s work at Forthampton, both of which are in the possession of Gerald Yorke; the notebooks of Philip Webb in the possession of John Brandon-Jones, to whom I am also grateful for help; twenty-four drawings in the R.I.B.A. Drawings Collection; and twenty drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum Print Room.
2 Letter dated 29 September 1891.
3 For the earlier history of the house see Verey, D., The Buildings of England: Gloucester, The Vale and Forest of Dean (1970), p. 188 Google Scholar, and The Victoria County History: Gloucestershire, vol. 8 (1968), 202. Since this account was first written Clive Aslet has published two illustrated articles on the history of Forthampton, Country Life, 4 October 1979 and 11 October 1979. My article has therefore been slightly recast, and is intended to be read in conjunction with his.
4 Clouds was built at East Knoyle, Wiltshire, for the Hon. Percy Wyndham. See Country Life, XVI (1904), 738-48.
5 Webb’s account of the work done at Forthampton, dated 24 December 1892, in the possession of Gerald Yorke.
6 The contents of the letter were not recorded, but as it was an unpaid letter Webb noted it as an office expense in his notebook, shown to me by John Brandon-Jones.
7 This plan has been prepared from Webb’s contract plan of the ground floor, dated 2 October 1889, in the V. & A. (E249-1916) on which Webb indicated the old walls in red.
8 These plans, by W. B. Moffatt, are still at Forthampton Court.
9 Webb did in fact make considerable alterations to the north side of the house, but for the most part these were service buildings, and single-storey where they impinged on the house. The two-storey block of servants’ bedrooms stood on the far side of a courtyard from the old work.
10 The principal inconveniences can be inferred from this report, and from the plans, to have been the inadequate size of the entrance hall and the lack of any satisfactory approach to it, the inconvenient siting of the stairs in relation to the servants’ quarters and to the drawing-room, and the undersized library and dining-room. Many of the rooms lacked sufficient light and heating arrangements. More bedrooms and enlarged service areas were also required.
11 Webb’s original tracing with his notes in red ink has been lost.
12 The relationship between the dining-room and the staircase had been altered by the time the plans were drawn.
13 Dated 2 October 1889.
14 Chesterton’s report is at Forthampton Court.
15 V. & A. Print Room.
16 Letter from Webb to Mr Yorke dated 20 September 1891.
17 Drawing at V. & A. dated September 1890.
18 The annotation is undated.
19 Notebook dated 1878-92 in the possession of John Brandon-Jones.
20 Mr Estcourt was the Gloucester builder who carried out all the work here, and also built Clouds.
21 Emery Walker was a printer and friend of William Morris and Webb who afterwards became Webb’s executor.
22 Webb rather enjoyed emphasizing his lack of high-class education.
23 Letter dated 14 September 1891.
24 Letter dated 1 December 1891.
25 Photograph now at Forthampton Court, reproduced in Country Life, 11 October 1979, p. 1168.
26 Letter dated 15 November 1891. The word ‘sic’ after ‘children’ was Webb’s way of indicating a deliberate mistake.
27 A letter dated 8 January 1892 accompanied the plans and drawings of the stables sent to Forthampton.
28 Accounts in the possession of Gerald Yorke.