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- See: http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org/getperson.php?personID=I2790&tree=UKEire
- A History of Landford in Wiltshire
Part 11 – Hamptworth Lodge
Harold Moffatt (1859-1945)
Harold Moffatt was born in 1859, the only son of George Moffatt (see above) and Lucy Morrison, who was the sister of George Morrison (see above).
Harold Moffatt inherited the Goodridge Court estate on the death of his father in 1884, wisely choosing not follow his father into the family business, but rather to apprentice himself to a firm of boat builders (on the River Thames just below Christchurch College), where he learnt the intricacies of working with wood.
In furniture, his chief interest lay in early English oak and in English marquetry and walnut of the great period round the end of the seventeenth century. He began to buy while he was an under-graduate at Trinity College, Oxford, and his collection at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, was formed between 1879 and 1895. Some of the Hamptworth pieces were bought during the same period, but most of them between 1909 and. 1927. The principal pieces from both were illustrated and described in a catalogue privately printed at the University Press in 1928.
Being a recognised authority on the Elizabethan and Tudor periods, Moffatt had a considerable collection of period furniture which was housed at Goodridge Court. On inheriting Hamptworth Lodge estate in 1907 from his widowed aunt, Barbara Jane Morrison, he proceeded to build a house worthy of displaying this collection. He dismantled the existing house and with the aid of Sir Guy Dawber as his architect, built the current Lodge between 1910 and 1913.
The duo complemented each other perfectly; Dawber was famous for his country house designs and was later instrumental in establishing the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, whilst Moffatt employed only traditional building methods. The brickwork designs of this house are of particular note, as is the interior panelling, which was not completed until the eve of the Second World War.
Harold Moffatt was a worthy heir: he inherited Goodrich Court and its contents from his father and set about adding to the collection by buying fine sixteenth and seventeenth century English furniture from 1879 onwards. Like his uncle Alfred Morrison, he was also interested in sharing his collection with a wider public, publishing a catalogue of photographs and descriptions of over one hundred examples of furniture at Goodrich Court and Hamptworth Lodge.
He was High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1892.
It would appear that Harold Moffatt was a very discreet person and there is very little detailed information available regarding his private life. Clearly from the above, he spent most of his time building up his collections held at Goodridge Court and Hamptworth Lodge. According to other sources, he inherited £200,000 in the will of Col. Walter Morrison in February 1922.
He was a generous benefactor, as shown by the donations and interest he took in St. Margaret's Parish Church, Ewyas Lacy, Herefordshire. An entry in The Parish Book 1865-1931 reads: 'The Screen wa staken down and repaired and restored at the expense of a few subscribers. Harold Charles Moffatt Esquire of Goodrich Court was the chief subscriber. The restoration was completed November 1930.' Moffatt had already generously paid for the restoration of the presses in the Chained Library at Hereford Cathedral and was known to have an interest in rood screens. Eventually he was to subscribe some £850 to the total
cost of £900 for the screen's restoration.
There is no record of why the work that was done in 1930 was undertaken in that particular year. One may legitimately speculate that it was a case of 'now or never'. What is certain is that it was taken out of the hands of the PCC and became Moffatt's own particular enterprise. He it was who appointed the architect W E H Clarke of Nicholson & Clarke, Hereford, to oversee the work. And together they engaged the builder, Walter Davies of Hereford, to do the work.
On 6 May 1930 Davies moved in with his men and erected a large shed in the churchyard on the north side of the church. The screen was dismantled and then re-erected piece by piece in the shed - and it was at this stage that various discoveries were made, the most serious of which prompted a crisis meeting at the church on 25 June. Clarke records: 'It was found that really the loft was holding up the walls (of the nave) and the latter were built of thin slabs of stone and the joints filled with earth. In the course of time the roof leaked and this played havoc washing out the earth'. On that day, 25 Jun 1930, Moffatt undertook to pay for the rebuilding of the walls as well as the screen.
It was also discovered that the screen had been taken down previously and wrongly reassembled - many of the running mouldings were in the wrong groove. Sadly the heavy white enamel paint applied during the nineteenth century made it impossible to identify the original colours which had been used to decorate
the carvings. But close examination of those horizontal running carvings revealed that all were made from split, and not sawn, timber. The grain of the timber is thus true and the carvings do not warp and do not require numerous heavy fixings.
All the new, beautiful, intricate carving was carried out by 25 years old John Evans of Worcester who had the honour of signing the new Visitors Book on its first page on 30 Oct 1930. Five weeks later 'Harold Charles Moffatt...visited St Margaret's Church with the Dean of Hereford also Mr Clarke, Architect at 2.00 p.m...to inspect the work at the walls and restoration of the Rood Loft Screen. Mr Moffatt was very pleased.' And six months later, on Thursday 11 Jun 1931, 115 people crowded into the little church for the dedication of the work by the Dean of Hereford, Dr R Waterfield MA DD.
Five years later, to the very day, 11 Jun 1936 the present pulpit (in oak to harmonize with the screen) was dedicated by the Archdeacon to the glory of God and in memory of Ernest Hardwick Wood who died 1 Apr 1935 and who is buried at Vowchurch. And less than a year later, on 14 Apr 1937, John William Jordan was buried in the south-west corner of the churchyard. Strangely nobody ever affixed even a little plaque to commemorate Harold Charles Moffatt's generosity. [Ed. Perhaps he wished to remain anonymous?]
A stained window was put in the East end of the Chancel by Mr Davies of Bromsgrove Guild, Worcestershire. The Donor of the Window did not wish his name to be known. (Communion Table, Cross and Candle sticks by same donor). This magnificent anonymous gift deserves a pamphlet to itself. Suffice it to say it is a splendid example of the Victorian tradition of stained glass, executed by a master craftsman, utterly unique and incapable of being installed in any other building. [Ed. Considering the cost involved, the donor would have to be wealthy to afford such a gift and probably with local connections. Considering his interest in period furniture and wood working, could this anonymous donor possibly be Harold Charles Moffat?]
Further to Harold Charles Moffatt
Goodrich Court. In 1870 Colonel Augustus Meyrick sold it to George Moffat, who enlarged it greatly. His son Harold Charles Moffat made over the property during his lifetime to his daughter Dorothy, who married G. R. Trafford.
Hill Court Manor. A manor built in 1700 at Hom Green near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. After the death of Captain Kingsmill Manley Power in 1888, Hill Court was bought by Major Lionel James Trafford. He was succeeded in 1900 by his brother Guy Rawson Trafford who married Miss Dorothy Moffatt, the daughter of Mr Harold Moffat. After the death of her brother in 1916 Dorothy became heiress to Goodrich Court and so the two estates were united creating one estate of nearly two thousand acres, spanning several parishes.
In 1933 the main gate piers were moved to the position they are in today in front of the house, and details of the sad story connected with them can be found on a brass plate attached to one of the piers. It reads:- ‘These piers, moved from the east end of the avenue were in course of erection and the gates were in the making as a 21st Birthday present to Guy Harold Trafford when he was killed in a motor accident on his way to Queen’s College Oxford, 8 October 1933.’
Dorothy's mother, Mrs Harold Moffatt of Goodrich Court, died in 1938. Upon her mother's death Dorothy left Hill Court and went to live at Goodrich Court to be joined after the outbreak of war by the evacuated Felstead School who also occupied Hill Court until March 1945.When Felstead School left it became
clear that it was impossible to maintain two large houses, so Dorothy Trafford moved back to Hill Court. There was no apparent use for Goodrich Court and so in 1946 it was pulled down.
https://landfordjohnmartin.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/a-history-of-landford-part-11-hamptworth-lodge.pdf
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