Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census recorded the merged parish's population as 198.
Kelmscott Manor
Kelmscott Manor is a Cotswold stone house, built in about 1570 during the
Great Rebuilding of England and extended late in the 17th century. It was the country home of
William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896. He drew great inspiration from the unspoilt authenticity of the house's architecture and craftsmanship, and its organic relationship with its setting. Kelmscott Manor now belongs to the Society of Antiquaries of London.
[ Kelmscott Manor] Morris renamed his
London town house
Kelmscott House after Kelmscott when he bought it in April 1879. He named his private press, which he started in 1891,
Kelmscott Press.
Parish church
The
nave of the Church of England parish church of
Saint George was built in about 1190 in the transitional style between Norman and Early English, and the
chancel is probably of the same date. The building has
that were added in about 1260. The
clerestory of the nave was added in the 15th century. Many of the windows of the nave and chancel are Perpendicular Gothic additions, including the east window of the chancel. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
In the churchyard is the tomb of William Morris, designed by Philip Webb. Morris featured the church in his novel News from Nowhere, when in the final part of the book the Guest is taken there for the feast. St George's parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Holwell, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell.
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