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Sapperton Village Hall Sapperton Village Hall is an Arts and Crafts building of international importance – a few facts

The Hall had its one hundredth birthday last year 2012!

Sapperton Village Hall is no ordinary Village Hall, but is renowned nationally and internationally and people from all over the world, including Japan and many European countries, ask if they may visit it. This is because, although deceptively simple, it is a delightful example of Arts and Crafts architecture, a style that is, as you all know, becoming increasingly admired and valued. The village has a duty to preserve the building in good condition for the future.

The Gloucestershire village of Sapperton is intimately connected with three Arts and Crafts architects and designers: Ernest Gimson (1864-1919), Ernest Barnsley (1863-1926) and his younger brother Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926). They moved to the Cotswolds as young men in 1893 and lived and worked at Pinbury and Sapperton from 1894 until their deaths. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described Gimson as ‘the greatest of the English artist-craftsmen’ in his Pioneers of Modern Design (1935) while the three men are today acknowledged as archetypal figures in the Arts and Crafts Movement because of their skill as designers combined with their strong concern for and sympathy with the process of making. Their work was known and admired worldwide – in particular Scandinavia, Germany, United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand – and continues to inspire designers and makers. The one public building in Sapperton connected with Gimson and the Barnsleys is the Village Hall. Ernest Barnsley was commissioned by Lilias, Countess Bathurst to design a building for use by the local community in 1912. The Hall was then “presented” to the Village in 1976. (Continued over) The site chosen was the former village wheelwright’s yard on which Gimson had set up a smithy in 1903. At this time Ernest Barnsley was heavily involved in the building of Rodmarton Manor; workshops had been set up on site, local men employed and apprentices trained. It seems likely that the same team of first-rate craftsmen were employed on the building of Sapperton Village Hall. The walling stone is said to have been quarried very locally from Sapperton Common (the wood opposite Daneway House) and the cut stone was also from a local source – Minchinhampton. Through much of the 20th century the hall was used by all age groups for dances, theatrical and musical events, talks and meetings.

The names of the three designers are a bit confusing: two Ernests and two Barnsleys, but only three men! The three all built homes for themselves in Sapperton: Ernest Gimson - The Leasowes, Sidney Barnsley – Beechanger and Ernest Barnsley Upper Dorval House. The Leasowes and Beechanger were built from scratch; Upper Dorval House had the tower, reminiscent of the medieval tower at Daneway House, at the end of our golden Valley, added to a pair of small cottages. The early 18th century Kip engraving in the Church shows the two cottages, just beyond the church.

The photo in the Hall is of Ernest Gimson’s wife.

Gimson’s most outstanding pupil was Norman Jewson (1884 -1975) who some villagers still remember. He lived at Batchelor’s Court, the lovely house on the village green, with world famous topiary. Topiary is another mark of the English Arts and Crafts movement.