An R. Kingsley Tayler Photograph of Knowle House
Title
An R. Kingsley Tayler Photograph of Knowle House
Subject
Description
An undated photograph of Knowle House or Knowle Manor as more commonly called in the later 20th century. The photograph is by Richard Kingsley Tayler.
Mr Tayler, who professionally was known as R. Kingsley Tayler, was a commercial and portrait photographer, who also photographed for West Somerset newspapers. He was born on 18 November 1905, the son of Richard and Mary (nee Whetter) Tayler at Redruth, Cornwall. His father worked as a printer (1). R. Kingsley Tayler opened his own photography studio at 11 The Avenue in Minehead in 1935 (2). By the 1939 England and Wales Register, his parents were living with him at the studio. In July 1943, Mr. Tayler married Barbara Peggy Ponter (3), born in 1917 at Andover, Hampshire (4). He was still living at The Avenue in 1971 (5) and died at West Somerset in January 1979 (6).
Knowle House was built c. 1878, on the site of earlier structures dating back before the Norman Invasion, after which William the Conqueror had awarded the land to Roger Arundel, listed as Ernole in the Domesday Book (7). This latest version of a manor house had been commissioned by James Hole, Esquire, born in 1814 at Wootton Courtenay. His father was also James Hole, born c. 1782, also at Wootton Courtenay, who died in 1847 (8). The father and son were gentlemen landowners, acquiring farms and properties that became the Knowle Estate, which by 1850 accounted for a third of the lands within the parish (9).
In 1802, the senior Mr. Hole purchased the estate of Burrow near Wootton Courtenay. Around 1821 he obtained Well House and Farm, between Burrow and Timberscombe, (which was later owned by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland). In both transactions, the Hole family home was listed as "Knowle" (10), at the site where the younger Mr. Hole had commissioned his new manor house. It is not as if he really needed one. In 1846, the year before his father died, they had purchased Bickham Manor (11), just west of the village of Timberscombe. If the 1878 completion date of Knowle House is correct, James Hole never lived there. He died on 18 September 1876 and on the 26th of September, he was buried at the St. Petrock's Churchyard in Timberscombe (12)--as his father had been.
The architect for Knowle House was J. D. Sedding. John Dando Sedding was born in 1838 at Eton. As a young man he studied ecclesiastical architecture and decoration but after designing the church and vicarage of St. Clements at Bournesmouth, he became sought after and renown as a Victorian era architect. His design for the Church of the Holy Redeemer at Exmouth Market in London was considered a masterpiece and Sedding's London office became a centre of the Arts and Crafts movement. Mr. Sedding was the diocesan architect for Bath and Wells and was also an enthusiastic gardener, in 1881 publishing "Garden Craft, Old and New" (13). He would have returned to Timberscombe after the completion of Knowle House as Mr. Sedding also designed and supervised renovations in 1881 at St. Petrock's Church (14). He died that same year, at work on restoration of the nearby Winsford Vicarage (15).
Knowle House is a Victorian home, built in a Jacobean style with Elizabethan influences, of red sandstone and ironstone with blue pennant freestone dressings. It is a two storey building with a deeply pitched slate roof over an attic area, mounted with dormer windows. As seen in the photograph, the central entrance porch, with its arched moulded opening for the main entry, has a carved pediment that extends above the two storeys. This grand entrance is flanked on each end of the front facade by stone mullioned and transomed bays, also with carved stone pediments, placed before stone foliated gables. Between the entrance and the bays are stone mullioned windows with diapered leadwork.
Mary Hole, the daughter and sole heir of James Hole, had married Alexander Wynch, a Lt. Colonel of the Royal Artillery at St. James, Westminster, London, shortly after her father's death (16). She and her husband appear to have spent little time at Knowle House (they are there at the time of the 1881 Census) and around 1885, the entire Knowle Estate was sold to Worsley and Jessie (nee May) Battersby. They came to live at Knowle House, dividing their time between it and London (17).
Worsley Battersby died in 1896 (18). After his death, Mrs. Battersby had relocated back to Cheltenham where she had partly grown up (19) and in 1916, the Knowle Estate was placed on auction, "BY ORDERS OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF THE LATE WORSLEY BATTERSBY, ESQRE.", as printed across the top the first page of the 1916 Sales Particulars.
Over 2,100 acres were on the block at the 1916 auction. On Wednesday, the 3rd of July 1957, Knowle House and its 9 acres was again on auction at The Plume Of Feathers Hotel, Minehead, conducted by John D. Wood & Co. of Berkeley Square, London and C. R. Morris, Sons & Peard, of Hammet Street, Taunton. Since 1919, Knowle House had been occupied by three sisters, Lady Margaret Ryder, Lady Constance Ryder and Lady Adelaide Audrey Anson, the daughters of Henry Ryder, the 4th earl of Harrowby. Lady Audrey, the youngest and last surviving sister had died in 1956. The 1957 auction advertised the house as "WITH VACANT POSSESSION ON COMPLETION ". The photograph seen here, by R. Kingsley Tayler, while undated, probably reflects the house more at the time of the 1957 auction.
The 1957 Sales Particulars, almost amusingly describes Knowle House as "A Medium-sized Residence with Four Reception Rooms and Ten Principal Bed and Dressing Rooms." In 1916, there had been eighteen bed and dressing rooms, all on the first floor. In 1957 there are nine bed and dressing rooms on the first floor, so presumably at least some are now larger and one is now sensibly downstairs.
A conservatory, known as the Palm House was pictured on the right side of Knowle House in 1916. It is also depicted at the 1957 auction and is described as adjoining the downstairs Drawing Room. Certainly it exists in modern times at Knowle House (now more usually called Knowle Manor ) and is again known as the Palm House (20). It does not appear to be in this R. Kingsley Tayler photograph and presumably may have been removed in the mid to later 20th century and then rebuilt. The Historic Environmental Record of Exmoor National Park, on entry MSO10604, refers to a single story addition that had replaced a former conservatory. Knowle Manor, while home to the Lamacraft family, began offering holiday accommodations and became a popular site for wedding parties. Certainly the conservatory, if gone for a time, would have been a welcomed return.
Mr Tayler, who professionally was known as R. Kingsley Tayler, was a commercial and portrait photographer, who also photographed for West Somerset newspapers. He was born on 18 November 1905, the son of Richard and Mary (nee Whetter) Tayler at Redruth, Cornwall. His father worked as a printer (1). R. Kingsley Tayler opened his own photography studio at 11 The Avenue in Minehead in 1935 (2). By the 1939 England and Wales Register, his parents were living with him at the studio. In July 1943, Mr. Tayler married Barbara Peggy Ponter (3), born in 1917 at Andover, Hampshire (4). He was still living at The Avenue in 1971 (5) and died at West Somerset in January 1979 (6).
Knowle House was built c. 1878, on the site of earlier structures dating back before the Norman Invasion, after which William the Conqueror had awarded the land to Roger Arundel, listed as Ernole in the Domesday Book (7). This latest version of a manor house had been commissioned by James Hole, Esquire, born in 1814 at Wootton Courtenay. His father was also James Hole, born c. 1782, also at Wootton Courtenay, who died in 1847 (8). The father and son were gentlemen landowners, acquiring farms and properties that became the Knowle Estate, which by 1850 accounted for a third of the lands within the parish (9).
In 1802, the senior Mr. Hole purchased the estate of Burrow near Wootton Courtenay. Around 1821 he obtained Well House and Farm, between Burrow and Timberscombe, (which was later owned by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland). In both transactions, the Hole family home was listed as "Knowle" (10), at the site where the younger Mr. Hole had commissioned his new manor house. It is not as if he really needed one. In 1846, the year before his father died, they had purchased Bickham Manor (11), just west of the village of Timberscombe. If the 1878 completion date of Knowle House is correct, James Hole never lived there. He died on 18 September 1876 and on the 26th of September, he was buried at the St. Petrock's Churchyard in Timberscombe (12)--as his father had been.
The architect for Knowle House was J. D. Sedding. John Dando Sedding was born in 1838 at Eton. As a young man he studied ecclesiastical architecture and decoration but after designing the church and vicarage of St. Clements at Bournesmouth, he became sought after and renown as a Victorian era architect. His design for the Church of the Holy Redeemer at Exmouth Market in London was considered a masterpiece and Sedding's London office became a centre of the Arts and Crafts movement. Mr. Sedding was the diocesan architect for Bath and Wells and was also an enthusiastic gardener, in 1881 publishing "Garden Craft, Old and New" (13). He would have returned to Timberscombe after the completion of Knowle House as Mr. Sedding also designed and supervised renovations in 1881 at St. Petrock's Church (14). He died that same year, at work on restoration of the nearby Winsford Vicarage (15).
Knowle House is a Victorian home, built in a Jacobean style with Elizabethan influences, of red sandstone and ironstone with blue pennant freestone dressings. It is a two storey building with a deeply pitched slate roof over an attic area, mounted with dormer windows. As seen in the photograph, the central entrance porch, with its arched moulded opening for the main entry, has a carved pediment that extends above the two storeys. This grand entrance is flanked on each end of the front facade by stone mullioned and transomed bays, also with carved stone pediments, placed before stone foliated gables. Between the entrance and the bays are stone mullioned windows with diapered leadwork.
Mary Hole, the daughter and sole heir of James Hole, had married Alexander Wynch, a Lt. Colonel of the Royal Artillery at St. James, Westminster, London, shortly after her father's death (16). She and her husband appear to have spent little time at Knowle House (they are there at the time of the 1881 Census) and around 1885, the entire Knowle Estate was sold to Worsley and Jessie (nee May) Battersby. They came to live at Knowle House, dividing their time between it and London (17).
Worsley Battersby died in 1896 (18). After his death, Mrs. Battersby had relocated back to Cheltenham where she had partly grown up (19) and in 1916, the Knowle Estate was placed on auction, "BY ORDERS OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF THE LATE WORSLEY BATTERSBY, ESQRE.", as printed across the top the first page of the 1916 Sales Particulars.
Over 2,100 acres were on the block at the 1916 auction. On Wednesday, the 3rd of July 1957, Knowle House and its 9 acres was again on auction at The Plume Of Feathers Hotel, Minehead, conducted by John D. Wood & Co. of Berkeley Square, London and C. R. Morris, Sons & Peard, of Hammet Street, Taunton. Since 1919, Knowle House had been occupied by three sisters, Lady Margaret Ryder, Lady Constance Ryder and Lady Adelaide Audrey Anson, the daughters of Henry Ryder, the 4th earl of Harrowby. Lady Audrey, the youngest and last surviving sister had died in 1956. The 1957 auction advertised the house as "WITH VACANT POSSESSION ON COMPLETION ". The photograph seen here, by R. Kingsley Tayler, while undated, probably reflects the house more at the time of the 1957 auction.
The 1957 Sales Particulars, almost amusingly describes Knowle House as "A Medium-sized Residence with Four Reception Rooms and Ten Principal Bed and Dressing Rooms." In 1916, there had been eighteen bed and dressing rooms, all on the first floor. In 1957 there are nine bed and dressing rooms on the first floor, so presumably at least some are now larger and one is now sensibly downstairs.
A conservatory, known as the Palm House was pictured on the right side of Knowle House in 1916. It is also depicted at the 1957 auction and is described as adjoining the downstairs Drawing Room. Certainly it exists in modern times at Knowle House (now more usually called Knowle Manor ) and is again known as the Palm House (20). It does not appear to be in this R. Kingsley Tayler photograph and presumably may have been removed in the mid to later 20th century and then rebuilt. The Historic Environmental Record of Exmoor National Park, on entry MSO10604, refers to a single story addition that had replaced a former conservatory. Knowle Manor, while home to the Lamacraft family, began offering holiday accommodations and became a popular site for wedding parties. Certainly the conservatory, if gone for a time, would have been a welcomed return.
Creator
R. Kingsley Tayler
Source
Date
likely mid 20th Century
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
Knowle House, photographed by R. Kingsley Tayler / Timberscombe / northeast of the village
Acquisition Date
2018
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Manor Houses / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
13.5 X 17.5
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) 1905 England Census and 1939 England and Wales Register (2) Chronological History of Minehead, minehead-online. co.uk (3) "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939", by Robin Ansell, Allan Collier and Phil Nichols, The Somerset & Dorset Family History Society, 2018 (4) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 and British Army WW I Service Records, 1914-1920 (5) British Phone Books, 1880-1984 (6) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (7) VictoriaCountyHistory.ac.uk, Historic Environmental Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO10604 and "History of the Hundred of Carhampton", by James Savage, Bristol, 1830 (8) Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914 (9) VCH (10) VCH (11) VCH (12) Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1818-1914 and UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300's-Current (13) TheVictorianWeb.org> art> architecture> sedding and OxfordReference.com (14) St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet written by Marion Jeffrey, 1917 (15) VCH (16) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and 1881 England Census (17) "TIMBERSCOMBE'S FALLEN OF WORLD WAR I", compiled by Harvey Grenville, produced for St. Petrock's Church and the parish of Timberscombe to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, 1914 (18) "TIMBERSCOMBE'S FALLEN OF WORLD WAR I" (19) 1901 and 1911 England Census (20) the original Palm House is depicted at SP-117 and knowlemanor.co.uk
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-118
Technique
Copy
Citation
R. Kingsley Tayler, “An R. Kingsley Tayler Photograph of Knowle House,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 15, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3190.
Comments