The Dixton Manor paintings
Not far from Cheltenham near Alderton lies Dixton Manor. The Wilson holds two paintings commissioned by the owners of the manor, the Higford family, which show the manor house and the life of the manor in the early 18th century. The paintings came to the art gallery and museum over 30 years apart, in 1927 and 1957, but both from descendants of someone who had lived at the manor in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The painting above is Dixton Manor, Gloucestershire, from about 1715. Find out more about the manor and the paintings below. The second painting is Country around Dixton Manor, from the same date and almost certainly by the same artist. This painting shows the bringing in of the hay harvest.
Dixton Manor, Gloucestershire
The painting shows the view looking south and west from the top of Dixton Hill, Alderton towards Gotherington, May Hill and the Forest of Dean.
In the foreground sits the manor house itself, built for the ancestors of the owners at the time, the Higford family. The Higford’s had been Lords of the manor from the 15th century. John Higford extended the house in 1555, and it is this building we can see in the picture.
There are a number of buildings in the painting that are no longer there. To the east of the porch lies a chapel, used for family and servant baptisms, marriages and funerals. By the 1770s it was already ‘disused and fallen to decay’ according to Samuel Rudder, a chronicler of the county.
The museum holds a piece of carved stone from the chapel, which was originally served from Winchcombe Abbey.
The Higford family
The family themselves are standing outside the manor house. We don’t know exactly who the figures are standing outside the manor, but in 1715 the manor had a new owner, William Higford of Ashton. It’s possible that the figures are William, his fourth wife, Mary, their six year old son Henry, William’s two unmarried daughters Eleanor and Mary, and his sister Frances.
Shortly after this painting was completed, fashions in depicting houses like this one changed. It became normal to focus on the house itself, and the owners, rather than showing all their land with the house and owners as just a small part of a large working estate.
The working farm
In Dixton Manor, Gloucestershire, we don’t just see the house and the owners, but also the work of the farm.
The sheep in the foreground are probably not the Cotswold lions we often think of as the typical Gloucestershire sheep, but Leicester sheep, which were popular at that time.
We can see a woman milking cows in the field, a common practice at that time – it can’t have been fun carrying the full buckets back to the farm. We do know that the cattle are grazing in the field named Cattle Leasows!
There are also dogs being exercised – almost certainly hunting dogs.
Bringing in the harvest
The second painting appears to be a companion piece to the picture of the manor house. It shows a view from the top of Dixton Hill looking towards Stanway and Gretton.
It shows the various processes involved in taking in the hay harvest. This would have taken several weeks, from scything to forking into stooks and carrying it away.
Morris dancing - an early image
The painting shows an early image of Morris dancing. Morris dancing appears to have developed in England in the 15th century, but it may be earlier. The dances were often performed at celebrations, especially Whitsun in late May. Although the dances were banned during the period of the Commonwealth and Protectorate in the mid-17th century, they were soon revived after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
The dancers appear to be celebrating the end of the harvest, at some point in the early summer. They are dancing with handkerchiefs, in a way that seems familiar to the Cotswold style dances revived in the early 20th century and danced to this day in Gloucestershire and beyond.