History

The cottage next to the workshop houses the Edward Barnsley Archive. It contains a wealth of information relating to Barnsley furniture. There are over 4,000 drawings as well as photographs, correspondence, sketch books, client books and workshop accounts.

The archive exists due to the hard work of committed supporters and the generosity of benefactors including the Leverhulme Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Visitors are welcome by appointment.

Edward Barnsley
(1900-1987) was born into a family of furniture makers. His father Sidney, uncle Ernest and their friend Ernest Gimson had been inspired by William Morris and embraced his radical ideas. In 1893 the three of them had moved from London to the Cotswolds to put their beliefs into practice. They built their own houses using local materials and traditional techniques. They established workshops and made furniture generally of solid planks of timber. They celebrated the construction methods by exposing the tenons and dovetails. The furniture was often decorated with simple chip carving. Today Gimson and the Barnsleys are seen as key figures in the Arts and Crafts movement and their influence on design is immense.

Having spent his early years in the Cotswolds in 1910 Edward went to Bedales, the progressive school near Petersfield in Hampshire. The school encouraged the learning of practical skills and valued craftwork. In 1920 Edward went back to Hampshire to train in Geoffrey Lupton's workshop in Froxfield. As well as making furniture he worked with Lupton on the construction of the new library at Bedales which had been designed by Gimson.

In 1923 Lupton emigrated and Edward took over the workshop retaining most of the employees. He made furniture very much in the Cotswold style. He inherited clients from Lupton and then from his father who died in 1926. Unlike his father, who worked alone, Edward employed craftsmen and apprentices.

His workshop has made somewhere in the region of seven thousand individually crafted pieces. The workshop survived the difficult times of the depression and the war years keeping the spirit of the Arts and Crafts alive.

Edward gradually developed his own lighter style. He combined his father's influence with the elegant curves and fine inlay lines seen in the work of English furniture makers of the 18th century. As well as using the oak and walnut favoured by the Arts and Crafts pioneers he used exotic timbers like rosewood and blackbean. Electricity finally arrived at the workshop in 1955. Time could be saved by using machines on the more laborious tasks like planing and sawing the rough timber but Edward had mixed feelings. He thought it was very important to retain the individuality of craftsman-made pieces through handwork and felt that increased mechanisation made this harder to achieve.

In 1980 a trust was set up secure the future of the workshop and to preserve the unique opportunity of a Barnsley training. Today the workshop continues to produce furniture to the high standards of design and workmanship established by Edward.

Further reading
Carruthers, A. Edward Barnsley and his Workshop, White Cockade Publishing 1992.

Comino, M. Gimson and the Barnsleys, Evans 1980.

Peters, A. Cabinet Making; The professional approach, Stobart and Son 1984.

7 May – 6 June

Design and Bespoke Exhibition, 1-5 Exhibition Rd London SW7

5 – 15 June

Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, stand G105

16 June

Closing date for trainee applications

21 – 22 June

Workshop Open Weekend

16 – 31 August

Hampshire Artists Open Studios

25 October

Workshop Sale Day

Weekdays
8:30am - 4:30pm.

Weekends
By prior arrangement.