Details
TOTLAND
1354/4/287 ALUM BAY OLD ROAD
28-MAR-1994 WESTON MANOR
II*
Large detached house, later a residential home. Built 1869-70 for William George Ward an eminent Oxford don and ecclesiologist who became a Roman Catholic convert, by George Goldie. The chapel was re-furnished and re-decorated circa 1898 with furnishings by Edward Goldie and Peter Paul Pugin.
MATERIALS: Built of coursed Isle of Wight stone rubble with stone dressings and stone chimneystacks. Windows are mainly mullioned and transomed stone casements with hood-mouldings to the first floor windows.
PLAN: An asymmetrical building mainly of two storeys, except for the chapel and parts of the service wing, with principal rooms to the north, service end to the south and apsidal-ended chapel protruding from the middle of the west front with an adjoining porch facing south.
EXTERIOR: The entrance front faces west and its principal feature is the central apsidal-ended chapel with double trefoliated stone windows separated by buttresses. To the north are four mainly mullioned and transomed stone casements with French windows on the ground floor originally opening in to a conservatory. Attached to the south corner of the chapel is a single-storey section with a hipped roof which has a gabled stone porch with plank door flanked by sidelights in the south return. Behind is the second major feature of the building, a square stone bell tower rising above the house parapet with a louvred wooden bell chamber and steeply-pitched pyramidal roof. The southern part of the west front is the service end with a two-bay taller section with gable end, and lower continuation including a gable which ends in a single-storey with gable end. The north front is of seven bays with a two-storey canted bay with three windows at the west end. The centre first floor has two pointed arches and a pierced stone balustrade (the balcony having since been glazed-in) and the ground floor has two pointed arches (now glazed-in) and the Ward shield between the two storeys. There are two further windows to the west. Plinth. The east front has to the north a two-storey three-light canted bay with mullioned and transomed windows with hood mouldings to the first floor and ogee-shaped openings to the ground floor. To the centre is a square tower with a steep pyramidal roof with cast iron weathervane and projecting in front a two-storey three-light canted bay with stained glass panels to the upper room. Further left are two mullioned and transomed windows with hood moulding to the first floor and on the ground floor a projecting square bay with seven light mullioned and transomed windows with a pierced parapet above. A gable separates the principal part of the house from the south service wing, which is of lower elevation with five sashes with verticals only, three gabled dormers and single-storey projections on the ground floor. The south elevation has a gable and external chimneystack with only one first floor window.
INTERIOR: The CHAPEL was refurbished circa 1898 by Edward Goldie according to the principles of A W N Pugin's 'Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament'. There is a two bay nave, one bay apsidal ended chancel and gallery at the east end. The ribbed barrel-vaulted ceiling has stencilled decoration of geometrical patterns and the walls have an elaborate frieze at the top with coats of arms and further down stencilled decoration. The walls have stencilled decorations with 'I H C' and 'Chi Rho' symbols. The apse has painted decorations of Christ in Majesty seated on a rainbow and side panels with angels. Stained glass to the apse depicts the Good Shepherd, The Virgin Mary and two archbishop saints with the entwined emblem of the Ward family. There is a very elaborate stone reredos with carved angels, Sanctus cupboard and carving of the Entombment to the Altar below by the Goldie firm, probably Edward Goldie. The north corner has a painted lectern and the floor of the apse is of Minton tiles depicting instruments of the Passion. The fine carved wooden screen of 1895 with figures is by Peter Paul Pugin in C15 style. A north wall stained glass window depicts St Elizabeth of Hungary. At the eastern end is a fretted wooden gallery with stencilled underside and below in the south-east corner a confessional box in similar style. The pews were brought in from elsewhere.
The staircase-hall has a large stone fireplace inscribed 'ANNO DOMINI 1871', six-panelled doors in moulded architraves, dogleg wooden staircase with elaborate turend balusters and newel post and Minton tiled floor.
A north room retains a Gothic ceiling rose and stone fireplace inscribed 'INITIUM TIMOR SAPIENTIAE DOMINO'. The north west room has been sub-divided in the C20.
The Dining Room has a cornice with frieze of female masks and swags, dado panelling and pedimented door surround with door of eighteen panels. The elaborate marble fireplace has vine leaf and grape design to the bolection moulding, and William de Morgan tiles. Above is a picture or mirror surround with reeded pilasters, cornice and frieze with bycranium, masks and swags. The large square bay window has stained glass roundels with the Ward family shield in the centre, flanked by shields of significance to the family including those of the Hartford family, Douai, St Edmund and the Isle of Wight.
The first floor retains two marble fireplaces with pilasters, one with tiled interior, a fireplace with eared architraves and decorated tiles and a corner fireplace. There is internal access into the chapel gallery at first floor level.
The service wing retains servants bells, two plain fireplaces and a dogleg staircase with chamfered newel posts.
HISTORY: The land was in the ownership of the Urry family between circa 1590 and 1758. The present house on the site was built for William George Ward (1812-1882), an Oxford don, colleague of John Henry Newman and the first of the Oxford Movement 'to go over to Rome'. He had inherited estates on the Isle of Wight, including Northwood House Cowes and land at Freshwater from his childless uncle, George Henry Ward. The house was designed by George Goldie with a purpose-built chapel. Ward's eldest son, Edmund Granville Ward (1853-1915), succeeded to the estate and circa 1898 the chapel was re-decorated with a screen by Peter Paul Pugin and altar and reredos by Edward Goldie. W G Ward's second son, Wilfrid Philip Ward (1856-1916), biographer and ecclesiastical historian succeded briefly to the family estates which then passed to his elder surviving son, Herbert Joseph Ward. In 1937 Weston Manor was leased to a Spanish order of nuns and in 1962 the lease was taken over by Dominican brothers as a residential centre for men with learning difficulties.
Weston Manor first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1898. The only change to the footprint since this or the 1907 edition is the removal of a conservatory to the north of the chapel.
SOURCES:
David Lloyd and Nicholas Pevsner, - The Buildings of England - Isle of Wight p146 (2006).
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entries for William George Ward and Wilfrid Philip Ward.
Christopher Martin, - A Glimpse of Heaven (English Heritage 2006) for buildings designed by George and Edward Goldie and fittings by Peter Paul Pugin.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
* Weston Manor's principal feature is the chapel of circa 1870, refurbished circa 1898 with fittings by Peter Paul Pugin and Edward Goldie,containing a complete decorative scheme with stencils, painting, stained glass and Minton floor tiles following the principles of A W N Pugin. This is of more than special interest for its quality, completeness and rarity of survival;
* The house is of special architectural interest as a High Gothic stone house with polygonal hips, towers and pointed arches by the prominent Catholic architect George Goldie and built 1869-70. Despite some internal partitioning for later institutional use it retains some good quality fittings including stone and marble fireplaces, stained glass and joinery;
* Weston Manor has special historic interest as the home of the Ward Family. It was built for William George Ward a prominent C19 Roman Catholic convert, theologian, philosopher and friend of Tennyson, who owned the adjoining estate. The chapel refurbishment was carried out for his eldest son Edmund Granville Ward and Wilfrid Philip Ward, who succeeded his brother, was a prominent biographer and ecclesiastical historian.
