- Bateman's
on her death in 1939, and it has since been opened to the public.
Bateman's is a modest Jacobean sandstone house built in 1634 for a local ironmaster, John Brittan. Six brick columns form a massive central chimneystack above the gabled facades.
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: "
If— ", "The Glory of the Garden", and "Puck of Pook's Hill ", 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).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 strong links with the
Indian subcontinent . There areoriental 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 anelephant . Exhibition rooms contain manuscripts, letters, and mementoes of Kipling's life and work.External links
* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-batemans/ Bateman's information at the National Trust]
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