Special interest talks in 2020

A view of the Drawing Room with Jacobean-style plaster ceiling at Wightwick Manor

Join one of our knowledgeable team and special guests on one of our regular talks of the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris' circle.

Please note: Our talk series has been postponed due to site closure. Please keep checking back for future updates.

Pre-booked daytime talks start at 10am and finish around 12noon-12:30pm. They start with a relaxed talk before you are guided on a walking tour of highlights of our collection link to the subject. For evening tours, the talks start at 7pm and continue as you are toured over both floors of the Manor, finishing around 8:30pm.

To book, please follow the links to our event page, or please call the National Trust booking office on 0344 249 1895.

Specialist Talk: Women Artists of the Pre-Raphaelites - Sunday 8 March 2020, 10am - 12noon - Sorry, SOLD OUT

Help us to celebrate International Women's Day by joining Helen, the House and Collections Manager, for a relaxed talk followed by a walking tour of the collection, featuring such artists as Evelyn De Morgan, Lizzie Siddal and Lucy Madox Brown.

Ticket includes tea, coffee and biscuits on arrival.

£22 per person, booking essential. 

Pop-up talk - 'Paintings, pots and a puma! - A brief history of the De Morgans' - Friday 20 March, Tuesday 24 March, Friday 17 April & Friday 1 May 2020, 12:30pm - 1pm each day

Join volunteer Mark for a 'potted' history of William and Evelyn De Morgan. Find out how they met and started to create their fabulous art - focusing on William and his ceramics.

Free talk, no booking required. Normal admission costs apply.

Specialist Talk: The Life of May Morris - Saturday 2 May 2020, 10am - 12noon

Join Helen, the House and Collections Manager, for a relaxed talk followed by a walking tour of the collection, featuring the life and works of the forgotten Morris.

Ticket includes tea, coffee and biscuits on arrival.

£22 per person, booking essential. 

Meet Helen, the House and Collections Manager at Wightwick Manor
Helen, the House and Collections Manager at Wightwick, looks at two Rossetti paintings on the wall in the Morning Room. Below is a wooden table containing metalwork and De Morgan ceramics.
Meet Helen, the House and Collections Manager at Wightwick Manor

Specialist Talk: Wilde at Wightwick - Saturday 6 June 2020, 10am - 12noon

Join Hannah, Assistant Curator for the National Trust, will discuss in depth Oscar Wilde's influence on Wightwick Manor followed by a walking tour of the collection.

Wightwick was built in 1887 by Theodore and Flora Mander. Three years before Theodore had attended Oscar Wilde’s ‘The House Beautiful’ lecture in Wolverhampton about the Aesthetic Movement.

Wightwick, the architecture and interior design were directly inspired by this talk. Discover in detail how radical the Aesthetic Movement was and how it shaped the Wightwick you see today. After the talk, a tour of the Manor, looking at key Aesthetic features and objects will take place.

£22 per person, booking essential.

Find out about Oscar Wilde's influence on Wightwick from Assistant Curator Hannah Squire
Hannah Squire, Assistant Curator for the National Trust, looks over the wooden beams of the gallery down into the Great Parlour at Wightwick Manor. Below can be seen the grand piano, ceramics, paintings and rugs on the wooden floor.
Find out about Oscar Wilde's influence on Wightwick from Assistant Curator Hannah Squire

Evening Curator Talk: William De Morgan and the Aesthetic Interior - Wednesday 10 June 2020, 7pm - 8:30pm

Join Curator Sarah Hardy on an exclusive out of hours tour of Wightwick Manor and the De Morgan Gallery to learn more about William De Morgan’s impact on the aesthetic interior.

Opulent interiors filled with rich tapestries and lustrous ceramics became commonplace in fashionable middle-class homes, being championed by Oscar Wilde’s ideals in his ‘House Beautiful’. Wightwick Manor is an exemplary monument to the Aesthetic Movement and the ceramics of William De Morgan are central to this scheme. Decorative panels, Persian blue vases, and twinkling ruby lustre ceramics glint in the light of the manor and are explored in the De Morgan Gallery at Wightwick.

Ticket includes glass of wine or soft drink on arrival.

£22 per person, booking essential.