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smallhobbit) wrote2017-08-12 08:01 pm
smallhobbit) wrote2017-08-12 08:01 pm
Days Out: Part Two
Yesterday we went to Chipping Camden, which is a traditional (and rather touristy) small Cotswold town:
Specifically we went to visit Court Barn, which celebrates C R Ashbee, who in 1902 moved his craft workshops from the East End of London down to a dis-used silk mill in the town. The little museum highlights the work of Ashbee and some of the other craftsmen and women who worked close by. With our Art Fund card we should have got in half price, but sadly they'd had a robbery the previous week, when the contents of the cases had been taken, so we got in for free. All three cases were of silverware, and nothing else was touched. The value of the silver itself, if melted down, wouldn't have been much, but the articles and the associated history would have made them valuable - whoever took them knew what they were doing.
However, there was still plenty to look at. There were engravings, bookbinding, pottery, stained glass, and a beautifully made cabinet. And although the majority of craftsmen made individual items, one of them had started a factory which produced well designed items for mass production, including the cases for some of the early wireless sets.
Having wandered round the museum we walked through the town, stopping at the Robert Hart cutlery shop. The cutlery is designed in-house, but factory manufactured, very attractive, just don't look at the price label. From there we continued up Sheep Street a little way to the original building where Ashbee ran his co-operative. On the ground floor a lovely café was serving reasonably priced lunch. On the first floor is a working silversmith's which visitors can wander round. The workshop was begun in 1906 by the Hart family, and hasn't changed much since.
Specifically we went to visit Court Barn, which celebrates C R Ashbee, who in 1902 moved his craft workshops from the East End of London down to a dis-used silk mill in the town. The little museum highlights the work of Ashbee and some of the other craftsmen and women who worked close by. With our Art Fund card we should have got in half price, but sadly they'd had a robbery the previous week, when the contents of the cases had been taken, so we got in for free. All three cases were of silverware, and nothing else was touched. The value of the silver itself, if melted down, wouldn't have been much, but the articles and the associated history would have made them valuable - whoever took them knew what they were doing.
However, there was still plenty to look at. There were engravings, bookbinding, pottery, stained glass, and a beautifully made cabinet. And although the majority of craftsmen made individual items, one of them had started a factory which produced well designed items for mass production, including the cases for some of the early wireless sets.
Having wandered round the museum we walked through the town, stopping at the Robert Hart cutlery shop. The cutlery is designed in-house, but factory manufactured, very attractive, just don't look at the price label. From there we continued up Sheep Street a little way to the original building where Ashbee ran his co-operative. On the ground floor a lovely café was serving reasonably priced lunch. On the first floor is a working silversmith's which visitors can wander round. The workshop was begun in 1906 by the Hart family, and hasn't changed much since.
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I think you might like the museum. If you do go there's free parking in Chipping Camden school car park.
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And yes, the robbery was very sad.