Wightwick Manor

 Wednesday 27th September 2023 at Autherley Junction

Wightwick Manor is just a few hundred yards from our mooring so, at 10:00am, the five of us set off to visit the house. The Mander family made its fortune producing and selling varnishes and paints all round the world.

 

In 1878, the family bought the Wightwick Manor estate complete with a late 16th century house, which is now the shop.

Mrs Mander took one look at the house and decided that it was far too small and dark inside!  So Mr Mander had a new manor house built next to it in the mediaeval style.

This photograph was taken from the internet as the house is currently covered in scaffolding due to a three year restoration and preservation project. The original house is the three bays on the left; just six years later the size of the house was doubled as the Mander family rose in society and needed to entertain. The first room that you enter is the ladies' lounge from the original house, it is a delightful room full of light. It even has a secret window from where Mrs Mander could look out for unwanted visitors! It even has a hidden staircase so that she could escape upstairs to avoid any unwanted guest.

 Much of the house was decorated by William Morris and attracted many of the Pre-Raphaelite "brotherhood" of the day. The Manders collected and acquired many Pre-Raphaelite paintings, one of which is an original Millais; apparently he was a regular visitor to the house. The new extension featured a massive great hall in the mediaeval style complete with a minstrels' gallery.

Having taken our fill of exquisite paintings and beautifully furnished rooms (and bacon butties in the tearoom!), we returned to the boats. On the way, we passed a large ivy bush that was covered in bees and Red Admiral butterflies.

We set off back to Autherley Junction with the two boats, once more passing the junction with the Wolverhampton flight on the way.

The two boats moored up together just outside Autherley Junction for the night.

Tomorrow, Jenni, Will, Ed and Rufford will head north back up the Shropshire Union Canal while we, on MM, will continue on up the Staffs & Worcs towards Great Haywood.

Today: 4 miles, 2 locks and 1.5 hours.

Trip: 288 miles, 122 locks and 153.9 hours.