Stanway House

About the museum

Stanway House is a Jacobean manor house in the Cotswolds. The manor belonged to Tewkesbury Abbey for around 800 years, and in 1533 Richard Tracy took a lease of the land. His son Paul Tracy began the present house around 1580, and the Tracy family lived there for some five centuries. Its descendants, the Earls of Wemyss and March, still live at Stanway, and the house has been shown on summer afternoons.

The triple-gabled gatehouse was built about 1630 by Sir Richard Tracy and is listed Grade I, as is the great tithe barn of around 1370 that was built for Tewkesbury Abbey and restored in 1927. A water garden was created in the 1720s for John Tracy, probably by the garden designer Charles Bridgeman, with a long canal on a terrace above the house and a cascade that the estate describes as the largest in Britain. The author J. M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, was a frequent summer guest from the 1920s until 1932.

The most striking feature is the single-jet fountain in the canal, which opened on 5 June 2004. It rises to about 300 feet and is described as the tallest fountain in Britain and the tallest gravity-fed fountain in the world, driven from a reservoir high on the hillside. A restored 13th-century watermill with a large overshot waterwheel, reopened in 2009, produces stoneground flour and is also open to visitors.

Highlights

• Jacobean manor house lived in by the Tracy family and their descendants since 1533
• Gatehouse of around 1630
• Fountain rising to about 300 feet, the tallest gravity fountain in the world
• Water garden of the 1720s with canal and cascade
• Restored working watermill and medieval tithe barn

Permanent exhibitions

• Stanway House – Jacobean manor house with its furniture, shown with an audio guide and guides in the rooms.
• Stanway Fountain and Water Garden – The 300-foot gravity fountain of 2004 and the water garden of the 1720s with its canal and cascade.
• Stanway Watermill – Restored working flour mill with a 24-foot overshot waterwheel dating from around 1850.

Operated by

Stanway Estate (Earl of Wemyss and March)

Admission & discounts

The standard prices are for the house and fountain. Members of the Historic Houses Association enter the house, garden and watermill free.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The house welcomes visitors with disabilities but advises phoning ahead for details of access and bringing a companion. Visitors with disabilities see only part of the house. The watermill is on three floors with stairs and no lift and is not suitable for wheelchairs. Dogs on leads are welcome at the property but not inside the watermill.

Kids & families

Family tickets are available for the house and fountain and for the fountain alone, and dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café

The Tea Room serves afternoon cream teas, homemade cakes, local ice cream and hot and cold drinks during opening hours.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Weddings / ceremonies

The medieval Stanway Tithe Barn, surrounded by lawns, a duck pond and parkland, is promoted as a wedding venue; the house, gatehouse and fountain serve as a backdrop for photographs.

Plan your visit