Bantock House Museum and Park
Encyclopedia
Bantock House Museum and Park, is a museum of Edwardian life and local history, with 48 acres (194,249.3 m²) of surrounding parkland in Wolverhampton
, England
. It is named after Alderman Baldwin and Kitty Bantock who once lived there. It is run by Wolverhampton City Council's Arts and Museums service.
in 1920, further improved the property following his father's death in 1896. On his own death, without children, in 1938 he bequeathed the house and park to Wolverhampton Corporation. The house was renamed in his honour in 1940. It is a Grade II listed building.
, a putting green, and football fields.
Highland cattle were bred by the Bantock family and are believed to have roamed the grounds of the park up until around the 1930s. To recreate the presence of the cows, local craftsman Neil Watson was commissioned to create a cow sculpture, which can now be seen at the front of the house.
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is named after Alderman Baldwin and Kitty Bantock who once lived there. It is run by Wolverhampton City Council's Arts and Museums service.
History
The house was built in the 1730s as New Merridale Farm. It was extended and improved during occupancy by Thomas Herrick about the beginning of the 19th century and renamed Merridale House. The house had several tenants but in about 1864 was bought by Thomas Bantock, a canal and railway agent. His son Albert Baldwin Bantock, who was twice Mayor of Wolverhampton and also High Sheriff of StaffordshireHigh Sheriff of Staffordshire
This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Staffordshire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred...
in 1920, further improved the property following his father's death in 1896. On his own death, without children, in 1938 he bequeathed the house and park to Wolverhampton Corporation. The house was renamed in his honour in 1940. It is a Grade II listed building.
Bantock House
Bantock House contains displays exploring the lives of the Bantock family and other locally important people. On the ground floor, there are displays about the Bantock family and the way they lived. Upstairs, the focus shifts to the men and women who shaped Wolverhampton and the industries they created with displays featuring locally-made enamels, steel jewellery and japanned ware. The museum is unusual in that it avoids for the most part the use of traditional 'glass case' displays, and instead presents a 'more informal and imaginative setting'; visitors are, for example, encouraged to sit on any furniture they can find.Bantock House Gardens
The gardens that surround the house were designed by Albert Baldwin Bantock and in 1998 were restored to his original designs by Wolverhampton City Council, allowing visitors today to see the different spaces Baldwin created. At the back of the house there is a sunken garden called the Dutch Garden. There is also a rose garden, with an array of roses with names such as Blythe Spirit, Chapeau de Napoleon and Glamis Castle, colourful flower borders in the house garden and a woodland garden which now forms part of a nature trail around the park.Bantock Park
Bantock Park has 48 acres (194,249.3 m²) of land and includes a play area for children, a small, 18 hole golf courseGolf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
, a putting green, and football fields.
Highland cattle were bred by the Bantock family and are believed to have roamed the grounds of the park up until around the 1930s. To recreate the presence of the cows, local craftsman Neil Watson was commissioned to create a cow sculpture, which can now be seen at the front of the house.