Bateman's
| Bateman's | |
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National Trust | |
|---|---|
 Bateman's | |
| Grid reference: | TQ671238 |
| Information | |
Bateman's is a 17th-century house in Burwash in Sussex. Rudyard Kipling, the author (“the Bard of India”) lived in Bateman's from 1902 to his death in 1936, and his widow left the house to the National Trust on her own death in 1939. It has since been opened to the public.
House
Exterior
Bateman's is a modest Jacobean Wealden sandstone mansion built in 1634 for a local ironmaster, John Brittan. Six brick columns form a massive central chimneystack above the gabled facades.
Interior
Today the rooms are left as they were when the Kipling family lived there. Kipling and his wife created interiors that complemented the 17th-century house. The heart of the house is the book-lined study, at the top of the stairs, where Kipling worked. He sat at a 17th-century walnut refectory table under the window and his writing tools, paperweight, and pipe are still there.
Bateman's also reflects Kipling's life in India and lifelong attachment to that land. There are oriental rugs in many rooms and the parlour displays Kipling's collection of Indian works of art and artefacts. His bookplate shows a small figure reading on top of an elephant. Exhibition rooms contain manuscripts, letters, and mementoes of Kipling's life and work.
History and setting for books
When Kipling first went to Bateman's on a house-hunting expedition in 1900 he fell in love with it at first sight. He purchased it in 1902, and made it his home, even paying for a new road to be built to the nearest main road. Kipling wrote some of his finest works here including"The Glory of the Garden", and Puck of Pook's Hill and "If—"; ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’ is named after the hill visible from the house. The house's setting and the wider local area features in many of his stories in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and its sequel, ‘’Rewards and Fairies’’.
Kipling's poem The Land is inspired by the Bateman's estate.[1]
Bateman's was also used in the coloured 1966 edition of Tintin, 'The Black Island' as the basis for the residence of Müller, the ex-Nazi antagonist.[2] In the fictionalised adventure, the house is razed to the ground when a burning log from the hearth is used as a weapon during a scuffle.
Exterior scenes for the TV film ‘’My Boy Jack’’ about the death of Kipling's young son Jack in the First World War and his family's grief were shot at Bateman's.[3][4]
Mill
There is a working watermill on the property using the waters of the River Dudwell, supported by volunteers.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bateman's) |
- Bateman's information at the National Trust
- The Kipling Society
References
- ↑ The Land]
- ↑ "History of The Black Island.". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110514132406/http://www.tintinologist.org/articles/blackisland.html. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
- ↑ "Masterpiece: My Boy Jack". Cast, Production Credits, Web Credits. PBS. 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/credits.html. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
- ↑ "David Haig on My Boy Jack". Memorable TV. June 6, 2012. http://www.memorabletv.com/interviews/david-haig-on-my-boy-jack/. Retrieved April 14, 2013.