Stoneywell

Stoneywell is a National Trust property in Ulverscroft, a dispersed settlement near Coalville in Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire.

Stoneywell is the largest of a small group of cottages designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Ernest Gimson.

In spring 2013 the National Trust announced that following a year-long appeal, it had been able to acquire the house with its Arts and Crafts contents, gardens and woodland.

Built between 1897 and 1899 out of the stones found in the immediate locality, and constructed directly onto outcrops of exposed Charnwood bedrock, Stoneywell creates the impression it is an organic part of the landscape.

[1] Set away from the road, it is close to Stoneywell Wood and its surrounding gardens are by design and necessity more wild than cultivated.

[2] The roof, like many of Gimson's houses, was originally thatch, but following a fire in 1938 was re-roofed in second-hand Swithland slates.

These constructional timbers, matching the intricate irregularities of the ground plan, had been cut and prepared by Richard Harrison at Sapperton, Gloucestershire to Ernest Gimson's design, and transported the 150 miles for assembly on site, showing how much pre-planning and design had gone into Gimson's plan.

[12][13] They bought three plots of land from James Billson, to build cottages for summer use by Ernest's brothers Sydney and Mentor, and their sister Margaret.

These used new techniques to preserve the stonework of ancient decayed walls, under the guidance of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), and during 1898 both Sydney Gimson and the SPAB secretary wrote to Blow complaining about the absences from their project, highlighting the problem of such a hands-on approach to architecture.

[18] A parking area has been created away from the site and visitors are carried on a shuttle bus to a reception centre in the converted stables.

[25] The building work for Rockyfield was supervised by Norman Jewson, who was younger than many of the Arts and Crafts circle, and this was one of his first projects away from their Cotswolds base.

Drawing of Stoneywell by Ernest Gimson, July 1898
Sidney Barnsley's oak dining table, with Ernest Gimson's ladder-back chairs
The entrance faces out away from the road, with no vehicular access.
Small slate-roofed well house, built in 1899 beside Stoneywell Wood. Originally all water had to be carried by hand from here to a stone tank in the house.
Chitterman House, the now greatly altered pair of workmen's cottages
Lea Cottage, Ulverscroft. The wing on the left of the picture was added in 1972