Saturday 17 February 2018

Godfrey Blount in Kirtlington, 1894-5

Kelly’s Directory of Oxford, 1895 records Blount living in Nutlands, Kirtlington.  Blount was elected as a member of the Kirtlington Parish Council 1894, as written in my previous post here.  This is a Grade II listed building on Bletchingdon Road (OX5 3HF) which is now converted into flats.  The building is described by British Listed Buildings (here) as:

“House. c.1830 with later additions. Coursed squared limestone and some brick; Welsh-slate roofs with brick gable stacks. Probable central-stair plan with rear ranges. Regency style. 2 storeys.  Symmetrical 3-window front has large 12-pane sashes flanking a central half-glazed door and, at first floor, has smaller 12-pane sashes linked by an ashlar sill band which returns around the gable
ends. A hipped-roofed slated verandah extending across the front has ornamental trellis panels including segmental arches in front of the windows. Interior not inspected." 

Nutlands, Kirtlington, Oxford,
home of Godfrey Blount 1895
The first reference to Blount’s work that I have found is in Studio International (No. 13, April 1894) "A chest with panel in repousse work, is one of an admirable series of similar work by Mr Godfrey Blount, of Kirtlington, Oxford.  From the photographs we have seen it is possible to speak very warmly of the quality of Mr Blount’s work, especially the proportion of the framing and the massing of the ornamental details, without injury to the dignity on the whole.  It is so easy to fritter away the effect of decoration by too ornate adjuncts, that this reticence deserves commendation.”

Chest with panel in repousse work by Godfrey Blount
Studio: International art (No. 13, April 1894)

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