About Edgar Wood'S Briarcourt
Working to breathe new life into one of Edgar Wood's beautiful Arts and Crafts buildings. See what we learn along the way.
Edgar Wood'S Briarcourt Description
Imagine Huddersfield at the end of the 19th Century. The textile industry is booming, the West Riding mills are humming and in the Sykes family - owners of the Acre Mill on the outskirts of town, a wedding is in the offing. Herbert Higginson Sykes is to marry his sweetheart Annie Eliza Thompson.
It is John Sykes' responsibility not only to help his son step into his new role of family provider on the most stable footing, but it is important also to preserve the family's image as successful and powerful members of the local community. So to an appropriate wedding present. . . . .
6 acres and 27. 5 perches of land and the funds to build a brand new marital home.
Across the Pennines, Herbert's cousin has already turned down the prospect of a future running his family's cotton mill. Although he dreams of being an artist, the respectable compromise agreed is that he trains as an architect. Now 10 years into his career, Edgar Wood is the perfect choice of designer for the new house - Briarcourt.
Fast forward 119 years and 2 weeks from Herbert and Annie's wedding and we are moving in to make Briarcourt our new home. The mills have long-since ceased spinning and Acre Mill is being redeveloped as an NHS outpatient hub. In the intervening years, Edgar has become recognised as a leading light in the Arts and Crafts movement in the north and developed a considerable reputation across the UK and Europe for his progressive architectural designs.
Briarcourt has also witnessed many changes - having been bought by 'the corporation' in the 1940s, it has been home to looked-after children and older people in need of nursing care, a day centre for people with learning disabilities, and a work place for numerous health and social services professionals over the years. With changing times and needs, the building and grounds have also been required to adapt, and at this snapshot in time, beautiful grade II listed Arts and Crafts features from Herbert and Annie's original Victorian home sit side by side with the functional necessities of a public sector institution.
Lots of the windows leak - as do parts of the roof; the plaster is peeling from certain walls; the fire grates have been removed; and the garden is impressively overgrown. However, to us it's a really special place - the vehicle for an adventure, where we'll put our time and care into repairing the frayed edges and hope to learn a lot and meet interesting people along the way.
Welcome to our journey. . . . .
Reviews
Delighted to welcome Hazel and Janet to Briarcourt, who worked here in the 1980s supporting residents with learning difficulties.
The fact that they were able to recall pretty well all of the residents and their rooms tells me how much of themselves they put into their work. Both Janet and Hazel paid tribute to Gordon, the manager at that time, who sounds incredible - someone truly devoted to supporting and empowering the residents.
Well, Saturday flew by! Sincere thanks to everyone who joined us for tours of the house for Heritage Open Day and who visited Clem's Garden . It's always lovely to welcome visitors when there is such interest in the building and Edgar Wood.
We must say a big thank you to our friends in the Edgar Wood Heritage Group (Yorkshire), to our super-talented stained glass artist friends, Deb Lowe and Veronica Smith, and to our Clem's Garden volunteers who all did so much to make our open day really special. xx
Did you know that Heritage Open Days will be held over two weekends rather than one this year? And it's a great year to be inspired by our Edgar!
Whilst Briarcourt's opening falls on the second weekend (15th Sept), we wanted to give you a heads up that there will be a couple of Edgar Wood highlights on Saturday 8th.
If you're feeling fit, Lindley Clocktower will be open; and if you missed the last screening of 'Edgar Wood, A Painted Veil' then you have a second chance! You can book to watch it for free at Huddersfield Art Gallery...… https://drive.google.com/…/0B7U05a6Tup5 ITmM2ckJnNWZER…/view…
It's that time of year again!!
Briarcourt will be open again for tours for Heritage Open Days on Saturday 15th September.
https://drive.google.com/…/0B7U05a6Tup5 ITmM2ckJnNWZER…/view…
... If you would like to book on to a tour, TODAY'S THE DAY when the bookings open at the Visitor Information Point at Huddersfield Library.
Our tours booked up in the blink of an eye last year, so get in quick!
If you miss out on tour booking, you can still come to visit Clem's Garden and perhaps treat yourself to a bunch of homegrown eco-blooms!
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Lovely to see this popping up in the Edgar Wood Society feed today. We know that George Wragge crafted much of the stained glass and the window catches at Briarcourt.
….an opportunity to see how Clem's Garden is coming on and to relax in the garden. Bring a picnic blanket!
Can you lend us some of your time and muscles on Saturday April 14th?
We really need a big push to finish filling our raised beds and 'no dig' areas so that Clem's Garden can move forward with growing beautiful flowers for the community this year.
Find out more at www.clemsgarden.co.uk
... Please get in touch if you can lend a hand!
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I went to see the premiere of Northern Light Films' documentary - Edgar Wood - A Painted Veil last night.
What a fantastic job Anthony Dolan and all involved in researching, writing, filming and producing the film have done. I learned so much and can now place Briarcourt within the context of Edgar's life and body of work - what a special thing to be able to do.
This is the first attempt anybody has made to bring Edgar's work into the spotlight through film.
... There is one more screening scheduled at the moment - it's at Long Street Methodist Church in Middleton at 7pm on Thurs 15th March. If you can make it along, go, but get there early. I reckon it will be a packed house!
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It's nearly here.....This Thursday, 7pm, Lindley Methodist Church. Come along and find out all about 'Our Edgar'!
Nature seems to have added a new architectural feature!
I bet the Briarcourt door minders wish they were wearing a few more layers today!
I so wish I could have met Fred Jackson - by all accounts a man truly dedicated to his art. We are extremely lucky to have his beautiful frieze in place as a testament to his passion and artistry.
Our ‘big push’ continues. The kitchen remains in it’s ‘structural’ renovations stage and stripping wallpaper in preparation for plastering and decoration continues.
Some clues to where original mouldings might have run (see the dark brown varnish lines) have been uncovered, as have remnants of pretty stylish wallpaper and a declaration of love for ‘Jimmy Dean’!
That slightly gut-wrenching moment when you realise the ceiling is being held up by a few metal poles 😳.
Work on the kitchen. It’s been interesting to see where the original doorways (which were bricked in and plastered over) were sited. We’ve been treated to an insight into an earlier interior decor scheme too....roses, of course!
I think it’s fair to say we have a renovation push on over the next few months.
Work has started on a major overhaul of the main kitchen and there’s plastering and decorating in the pipeline too.
Moments of time travel help us through the upheaval. Here, the silhouette of a newel post emerged from behind old lining paper. This is where the stairs would have emerged in the middle floor in Victorian times... before they were completely turned around circa 1980s so that the building could be remodelled to meet fire regs.
We hope you all had a good Christmas.
With today's dumping of snow, we're hunkered down and already looking forward to the spring!
Earlier this year, we mentioned that Briarcourt had played host to actors and film-makers who were creating a documentary about Edgar Wood.
... Well here, hot off the press, is the trailer; including screening dates for the film. We're delighted that Lindley has been chosen as one of the screening venues, because our village is something of a hotspot for Edgar's work.
https://youtu.be/mo39ic10Gww
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We've launched our website for Clem's Garden today.
This is the social enterprise we have been setting up in the grounds of Briarcourt. It's aim is to offer local people who are 50+ and who don't have kids or grandkids to nurture, an opportunity to channel their skills, care, and experience into growing flowers and a cut flower business.
Clem is the baby we lost and the reason why this project and Briarcourt are so important to us. We all need something to nurture.
... Clem’s Garden is run entirely by volunteers, and after running and development costs, all profits will be donated to charities and other local community projects.
Please take a look at the website: www.clemsgarden.co.uk and help us spread the word.
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Hard to believe it’s 3 years today since we moved to Briarcourt.
A cosy afternoon in front of the fire is a world away from the hectic scrambling that went on then. We’re not planning recreating our first night camping out on the floor either.