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About
Kelmscott is a quiet village, set at the end of a non-through road that peters out at the nearby river Thames.
The village church, St George's, dates back to the end of the 12th century though it was subsequently enlarged on a number of occasions before 1550. Since then it has remained virtually unaltered, escaping drastic Victorian 'restoration' - unlike so many other churches - largely thanks to the efforts of William Morris, poet, craftsman and socialist, who lived in Kelmscott Manor on the edge of the village.
William Morris called the village of Kelmscott 'a heaven on earth' - though Rossetti complained that it was 'the doziest dump of old grey beehives'! - and was himself buried in the churchyard under a gravestone designed by his friend and associate, the architect Philip Webb - a ridge shaped stone supported on blocks adopted form the Viking ridged tomb-house.
Philip Webb also designed the Morris or Memorial Cottages, built at the expense of Jane Morris in memory of her husband and with a relief of William Morris carved on the front.
The village hall was built, more than ten years after his death, to the designs of Ernest Gimson, one of the prime exponents of the Arts and Crafts Movement in architecture. It is L-shaped, in traditional style, with a fence of large stone slabs. The nearby Gimson Cottages (Nos 3-4 Manor Cottages) were also built to his designs in 1915 using the local vernacular style and looking much older than they really are.
