Quarwood

Quarwood or Quar Wood is a Victorian house near Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, England. It was owned for 27 years by The Who's bassist John Entwistle.

Quarwood
General information
TypeResidential
Architectural styleVictorian
LocationSwell, Gloucestershire, England
Completed1859
Technical details
Structural systemBrick and stone
Floor count4
Design and construction
ArchitectJohn Loughborough Pearson

Description

The Rhenish Gothic house is built on a hill in Lower Swell,[1] approached by a long driveway and through an entrance with two stone pillars decorated with lion plinths.[2] The house, which includes a saddle roof and open loggia,[3] has 55 rooms.

The main hallway features a cantilevered staircase with wrought-iron balustrade and oak handrail which leads to a galleried landing. A formal drawing room has an open fireplace with a timber surround. The Cotswold landscape is visible through picture windows, and formal gardens include terraces and a croquet lawn facing south toward the Dikler river valley.[4] When Entwistle bought the home, he installed two recording studios, one on the main floor and one on the top floor, and a bar with game rooms. Known for a macabre sense of humour, Entwistle kept skeletons in the master bedroom to frighten guests.[5]

The grounds enclose 42 acres, including parkland, fish ponds, paddocks, garages, woodlands and seven cottages.[6]

History
Crossroads of narrow road near Stow-on-the-Wold, looking towards Lower Swell and the town.

The house was designed by architect John Loughborough Pearson and built in 1856–59 for £8,000 (equivalent to £750,000 in 2019) for Reverend Robert William Hippisley, who was the local parish priest[7] (rector) (1844-1899). The parish's lucrative farming and malting across its 12.7 km2 (5 sq mi) provided a then-record salary for that parish of £525 by 1870.[8] Pearson had previously designed Treberfydd in Brecknockshire for Robert Raikes (1818–1901), Hippisley's brother-in-law and grandson of Robert Raikes, a wealthy Anglican minister who increased junior education during and after the Industrial Revolution through expanding a nationwide charity for Sunday Schools. Pearson had completed restoration work on St Edward's Church.

Quarwood was extensively remodeled in 1954–58 by Sir Denys Lowson. John Entwistle and his wife Alison bought the property as a weekend retreat in 1976, and Entwistle occupied the house until his death in 2002. In 2004 his son Christopher offered the house for sale at a price of £3.75 million (equivalent to £5,800,000 in 2019). Entwistle's ashes were buried in the grounds.[9] The house is currently owned by Piet Pulford.[10]

See also

References
  1. Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (1989). Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Pelican history of art (6th ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 253. ISBN 9780300053203.
  2. independent.co.uk
  3. "Quar Wood, Goucestershire". Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  4. independent.co.uk
  5. "The relics of a rock star life". The Telegraph. 19 April 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  6. Jackson, Penny (28 April 2004). "Rocker's retreat". The Independent. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  7. books.google.co.uk
  8. Stow on the Wold J M Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer Entry, 1870-72
  9. "John Entwistle's grave". Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  10. "Quarwood". Retrieved 31 March 2012.

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