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Court Barn Museum

Chipping Campden

On 28 July 2007 a stylish, ground-breaking and brand-new museum will open in the historic town of Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds.

Housed in a historic barn but using the latest methods of museum display, Court Barn Museum celebrates the talented designers and craftspeople who have worked in Chipping Campden and the north Cotswolds since the beginning of the twentieth century. This is a story of the Arts and Crafts movement and its legacy, a story of how a small town in a beautiful setting became a gathering place for designers and craftspeople of national and international reputation.

The museum has been created by a group of local enthusiasts, the Guild of Handicraft Trust, working with skilled professionals. It cost £1.3 million, of which two-thirds came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the rest from grant-giving trusts and individuals in this country and the United States.

Chipping Campden and the Arts and Crafts Movement

Here are some of the designers and craftspeople who have chosen to live and work in Chipping Campden and the north Cotswolds since about 1900:

• The Arts and Crafts designer C R Ashbee who, in a Cockney invasion, moved his craft workshops, the Guild of Handicraft, from the East End of London to Chipping Campden in 1902.

• Gordon Russell who started making furniture in Broadway and ended up as a design guru and Director of the Design Council

• The radical potter Michael Cardew whose Winchcombe Pottery, started in 1926, is still going strong

• Robert Welch, a distinguished late 20th century silversmith and industrial designer, who worked in Chipping Campden all his life.

The museum

The museum is housed in a 17th century barn carefully restored by Reg Ellis, a local conservation architect. All new work is reversible and can be removed without harm to the original fabric.

There is a permanent exhibition of silver, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture, industrial design, bookbinding, printing, and stained glass, curated by Alan Crawford and designed by the award-winning young Scottish firm, Gareth Hoskins Architects.

The museum contains exhibits lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. The entire working archive of Robert Welch is also there.

A space is available for meetings, temporary exhibitions and work with schools.

Visitor information

Location

Court Barn Museum is in Church Street, Chipping Campden, next to St James’ parish church.

Website

www.courtbarn.org.uk

Opening times

Tuesday – Saturday 10.30 – 5.30, Sunday 11.30 – 5.30 in summer
Tuesday – Saturday 11.00 – 4.00, Sunday 11.30 – 4.00 in winter

Closed on Mondays, except Bank Holidays, and from 24 December to 1 January

Admission: £3.75. Concessions: Students, schoolchildren: £3.00, children under 16 are free if accompanied by an adult.