{{Short description|Historic house in Snowshill, Gloucestershire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox historic site | image = File:Snowshill Manor exterior.jpg | caption = Snowshill Manor from the front | location = {{coord|52.0029|-1.8605|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | built = Late 16th Century | restored = 1919 | restored_by = Charles Wade | owner = [[National Trust]] | designation1 = Grade II* | designation1_offname = Snowshill Manor | designation1_date = 4 July 1960 | designation1_number = 1340081 | designation2 = National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens | designation2_offname = Snowshill Manor | designation2_date = 28 February 1986 | designation2_number = 1000781 }}
'''Snowshill Manor''' is a [[National Trust]] property located in the village of [[Snowshill]], [[Gloucestershire]], [[United Kingdom]]. It is a sixteenth-century country house, best known for its twentieth-century owner, [[Charles Paget Wade]], an eccentric who amassed an enormous collection of objects that interested him. He gave the property to the National Trust in 1951, and his collection is still housed there.
== Manor house == The property is a typical [[Cotswolds|Cotswold]] [[manor house]],<ref name="nationaltrust" /> made from local stone; the main part of the house dates from the 16th century. It is a Grade II* [[listed building]], having been so designated since 4 July 1960. Also listed are the brewhouse, the dovecote, some of the garden buildings, the wall and gate-piers, and the group of four Manor Cottages.<ref name=BLB/>
==History== <ref name="NatTrust">{{cite book |last1=Freund |first1=Paul |title=Snowshill Manor and Garden |date=2018 |publisher=The National Trust |isbn=978-1-84359-358-4}}</ref> Snowshill Manor was given to [[Winchcombe Abbey]] in 821 by King [[Coenwulf]] of Mercia. Two hundred and sixty four years later, the village and Manor were listed in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as ''Snawesille, property of the Abbey of Saint Mary of Winchcombe''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Place name: Snowshill, Gloucestershire Folio: 165v Great Domesday Book |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7305713 |website=The National Archives' catalogue |publisher=The National Archives}}</ref> The Manor remained the property of the Abbey until the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1539<ref name="mysterious" /> when it was confiscated by [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]], who included the Manor in his dowry to his last queen, [[Catherine Parr]], in 1543.
The earliest surviving part of the Manor, the rooms named and now known as ''Dragon, Nadir, Ann's, Music'' and ''Seraphim'' by [[Charles Paget Wade]], was built around 1550 and it is probable that this section of the Manor was joined to a contemporaneous building to the south, which was later demolished. In the 1600s the Manor was again extended southwards and attic rooms added. In the early part of the 18th century the house was owned by one William Sambach, who added extra rooms on the south-west corner in about 1720. He also added a new main door in the south front, placing the Sambach coat of arms in the pediment above it, which is now the main entrance to the house. After several further changes of owner, John Small of Clapham took over the property, being the first of a series of absentee landlords: for the next 150 years the house was occupied by tenant farmers, until its purchase in 1919 by [[Charles Paget Wade]].<ref name="NatTrust" />
Wade was an [[architecture|architect]], [[Arts and Crafts Movement|artist-craftsman]], collector, [[poetry|poet]] and heir to the family fortune. He restored the property, living in the small cottage in the garden and using the Manor house as a home for his collection of objects. By the time of his death he had amassed over 22,000 objects. He gave the property and the contents of this collection to the National Trust in 1951.<ref name=BLB>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-134827-snowshill-manor-snowshill-gloucestershir#.V8Hfw63GD6g |title=Snowshill Manor, Snowshill |publisher=British Listed Buildings |accessdate=27 August 2016}}</ref>
== Collections == The house contains an eclectic collection of thousands of objects, gathered over the years by [[Charles Paget Wade]], whose motto was "Let nothing perish". The collection includes toys, [[Samurai armour]], musical instruments, and clocks.<ref name="nationaltrust" /> Today, the main attraction of the house is perhaps the display of Wade's collection. From 1900 until 1951, when he gave the Manor to the National Trust, Wade amassed an enormous and eclectic collection of objects reflecting his interest in [[Artisan|craftsmanship]]. The objects in the collection include 26 suits of [[Japan]]ese [[samurai]] [[armour]] dating from the 17th and 19th centuries, [[bicycle]]s, [[toy]]s, [[musical instrument]]s, and more.<ref name=Child/>
== Priest's House == Wade was an eccentric man and lived in the Priest's House while housing his collection in the manor. It is said to be haunted by a monk, and by the ghost of a young woman forced in 1604 to marry against her will in one of the upstairs rooms.<ref name=Child>{{cite book|author=Mark Child|title=The Windrush Valley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15CIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 |year=2013 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-3161-5 |page=17}}</ref>
== Garden == The garden at Snowshill was laid out by Wade, in collaboration with [[Arts and Crafts movement]] architect, M. H. [[Baillie Scott]], between 1920 and 1923. Their elaborate layout resembles a series of outside rooms seen as an extension to the house. Features include terraces and ponds, and the gardens demonstrate Wade's fascination with colours and scents.<ref name=Olson>{{cite book|author1=Donald Olson|author2=Stephen Brewer|author3=Donald Strachan|author4=Barry Shelby|title=Frommer's Great Britain Day by Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxAVBF_pdNwC&pg=PA311 |year=2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-64869-8 |page=311}}</ref> As well as formal beds, the gardens include an ancient dovecote, a model village, kitchen garden, orchards and small fields with sheep.<ref name="nationaltrust" />
=== Wolf's Cove model village === This [[Miniature park|model village]] was originally built by Wade, in 1907, in the garden of his Lodgings in Hampstead. It was originally called 'Fladbury', but renamed to Wolf's Cove when he moved and expanded it in the late 1920's. It is a 1/2" scale model of a Cornish fishing village, centred round a harbour, with pubs, cottages and a railway.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Foster |first1=Camilla |title=Snowshill Manor and Garden will exhibit famous model village |url=https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/23399862.snowshill-manor-garden-will-exhibit-famous-model-village/ |access-date=5 March 2026 |work=Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard |date=20 March 2023}}</ref>
== References == {{Commons category}} {{Reflist|40em|refs= <ref name="nationaltrust">{{cite web | url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/snowshill-manor/ | title=Snowshill Manor and Gardens | publisher=National Trust | accessdate=30 June 2015}}</ref> <ref name="mysterious">{{cite web | url=http://www.mysteriouspeople.com/Cotswolds_mystery.htm | title=Charles Wade & the Ghosts of Snowshill Manor | publisher=Mysterious People | date=2004 | accessdate=30 June 2015}}</ref> }}
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[[Category:Country houses in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:National Trust properties in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:Historic house museums in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:Gardens in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:Museums in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:Toy museums in England]] [[Category:Grade II* listed houses in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:Catherine Parr]] [[Category:Museums established in 1951]]