Tyntesfield and the National Trust
Tyntesfield (pronounced Tintsfeeld) is a National Trust property near the village of Wraxall in North Somerset, about 7 miles or so from the centre of Bristol.
Before I go on to talk about Tyntesfield itself, I’d like to say a few words about the National Trust (NT). Some of you will already be familiar with how the NT works, but for those of you who aren’t, this is a good opportunity to describe how it started out to where it is now.
Founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley, its aim was to “promote the permanent preservation for the benefit of the Nation, of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest”.
Although its core principles still remain the same, the world has changed since then – and so has the National Trust. In the 1930s for example, the Country House Scheme was set up to enable owners of large country estates who could no longer afford their upkeep, a way of continuing to live there by transferring their properties to the NT. In return, the NT would then open up the rest of the property to the wider general public who would pay an entry fee for the privilege to find out about the history of the house and what was inside it.
This successful solution meant that over time, the Trust had managed to accumulate a large number of properties with a variety of unique features that represented their time and location. Some were of historical interest, some were impressive architecturally, and others had valuable collections of all descriptions – and some were all three, but it goes without saying that some of these estates were built on the wealth created by dubious means.
Opening up these grand houses to the general public also opened people’s eyes to how these people lived, and what’s more, they could also learn about where their wealth came from including slavery and other nefarious means. Generally speaking though, I don’t believe there was too much negativity surrounding these places to begin with, especially as many important properties were still being lost for one reason or another right up to the mid-1950s.
Attitudes did gradually change though, both with the public and the NT, and the focus of attention moved away from acquiring stately homes to campaigns such as Enterprise Neptune, a project which set out to save and restore large sections of the coastline.
This little bit of background information might explain why Tyntesfield was the first country house the NT bought in more than a decade when it purchased the estate in 2002 – so why did it? The simple answer is that this fabulous Victorian Gothic Revival ‘time capsule’ was in danger of being broken up and sold to private owners, with several big name celebrities showing a keen interest.
When Richard Gibbs died in 2001 he was the last member of the Gibbs family to live at Tyntesfield, but William was the first. A London businessman who often travelled to Bristol, William Gibbs was on the lookout for somewhere to live in the area, and it was Tyntes Place, the local Georgian manor house, that caught his eye in 1843.
Gibbs was in the business of mining guano of all things; not around the Bristol Channel, but on the Chincha Islands in Peru. Whatever prompted him to wake up one morning and think that he could make money out of bird shit I don’t know, but he could – and he did. Guano is a rich source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium apparently, and he managed to create himself a monopoly of importing and exporting the stuff as fertilizer to Europe and North America. In fact it made him so much money that he was credited as being the ‘richest non-noble man in England’ at the time.
What was less well-known was the fact that it was Chinese labourers who did the mining, which even the Peruvian government at the time acknowledged had become a “kind of negro slave trade”. It was also calculated that of the 4,000 Chinese labourers ‘employed’ not one had survived. Slavery has existed in many different forms over many years – and still does.
Regardless of how Gibbs made all his money he had to do something with it and so, with the help of local architect John Norton and others, he set about enlarging and changing the look of his home which he renamed Tyntesfield.
After his death, the property passed down through successive generations, who continued to improve the house in the style that he no doubt would have approved of, and by the time Richard died in 2001 the house was not just an architectural gem, but an absolute treasure trove of Victoriana as well.
On Richard’s death, the NT immediately launched an appeal, with financial help quickly arriving from a variety of sources, and so the house, its collection of 70,000+ objects and part of the estate was saved for the nation, and in 2003, less than a year after the purchase, we took a look to see the house for ourselves even though restoration work was still in its early stages. The reason that the house was opened to the public prematurely was because the Trust wanted people to see what they had inherited, what task lay in front of them, and how they were dealing with it. The visit was worthwhile in an unusual sort of way.
Sixteen years later we came back to see how things had progressed, and the images in the gallery at the bottom of the page were taken in the run-up to Christmas in 2019. It was to be the last NT property we were to visit for a while because in March 2020 Covid 19 restrictions were introduced, but more challenges were to lie ahead for the Trust.
Although we were supposed to be in lockdown, two months later protests erupted across the U.S after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a 46 year old African-American man who was being restrained by white police officers. Derek Chauvin, one of the police officers involved was later found guilty of his murder.
The protests quickly spread around the world including Britain, and the NT, amongst others, were faced with questions about their ability to deal with racism within their organization. As I explained at the start, the National Trust was founded at a time when colonialism was making Britain one of the most powerful nations on earth, but that was more than a century ago, and by the time of George Floyd’s death, there had been a big demographic shift in Britain’s population towards an increasingly large number of non-white immigrants – and they were demanding changes.
Consequently, amongst other things, the NT were faced with what to do about properties that were involved with slavery and other unsavoury practices that occurred in the past, and so they hastily set about changing the information to suit the prevailing narrative. Places like Buckland Abbey in Devon, home of Sir Francis Drake, suddenly changed Drake from a national hero to a criminal involved in the slave trade. This may have gone down well with some people, but not everyone, especially native Britons who disliked the idea of their history being changed, whether it be good or bad.
Many existing members and volunteers left the NT in protest, and the National Trust was probably facing the most critical time in its history. Today, the Trust says that the membership remains strong, but there’s no doubt that the Black Lives Matter and Antifa movements have caused a split amongst people who regarded the National Trust as a national treasure.
Back at Tyntesfield, I’m hoping that they put on another Victorian Christmas this year like they did in 2019. With other institutions, retailers and politicians choosing to cancel anything connected to Christmas for reasons best known to themselves, the National Trust must be under pressure to follow suit. Not for one minute do I think that it would make us a secular country, but stop us from being a Christian one instead. Surely the National Trust can see what would happen next, and they wouldn’t go that far – would they?
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- The Front Hall
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- The Library
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- The Dining Room
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- The Main Hall
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- The Drawing Room
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- Mrs Gibbs’s Room
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- The Billiard Room
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- Inside the Chapel
POSTED – DECEMBER 2025
Well, the history of this place puts a whole new spin on the idea, ‘where there’s muck, there’s brass’! I’m a NT member and on a personal (slightly selfish) level get great value out of it for days out and dog walks. I just hope the NT endures, it does sterling work preserving places that would otherwise be lost. I actually wish it look at buying up some of the old military barracks, but that’s a whole other topic I suppose!
I’ve always been an advocate of the NT branching out into different aspects of our history and culture and I think that’s a great idea to include some of the old military barracks. Over the years they’ve done some amazing work but I’m just sorry to see them go down the woke route. Vegan tampons in men’s toilets – really?
I seem to have liked this post but I don’t remember the content, Malc. In a rush, sometimes. I don’t see why they need to vilify or glorify past owners. There’s such a thing as telling it like it is, isn’t there? We can’t change ‘the facts’ but must live with them as they are revealed. It’s a very beautiful property and renovation and it’s a shame for it not to be seen xx
That’s a very fair comment on a post that can divide opinion Jo, so thank you for that. You know I try to let people make up their own minds about certain topics that may be controversial, but you can probably read my mind too. As you can also imagine, and even though I’m not sure how long I’ll be around, I do worry about the future and where it’s going, but that aside, I do hope that you have a lovely Christmas and a peaceful and enjoyable year ahead – and keep sending us those pictures of sunny Portugal 😊
Excellent post Malc. And sorry not comment sooner. I bookmarked this so as to come back later when I’d time which is now. It is Sunday after all. I totally get what you are saying. I also totally agree with it. This current fad is as excluding as it is including.
You know that I’m always grateful that you comment at all, whenever it is. I realise of course that the National Trust for Scotland is separate from the one down here and I wasn’t quite sure how they operate up there these days. Because they had a reciprocal arrangement with each other, I joined the NTS a couple of times, not just because it was cheaper, but also because I felt they needed the money more. Anyway, I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength as far as this post is concerned – so a big thank you 🌟
You’re very welcome. I always enjoy your posts. I’m not a member of the Trust up here, so i don’t know how they operate here, apart from charging a mint to get in!!
LOL. Just think what they charge down here then. I never used to mind because it was all in a good cause, but the cause isn’t the same now as far as I’m concerned.
I think like a lot of other things, time gets called on trusts and charities. Things change as you say. But I’m not sure that rewriting history is the way forward. We forget past eras and what went on at our peril
Absolutely!
The Christmas theming looks lovely. I am one who thinks the NT were right to start to acknowledge the issues around how these wealthy landowners made their fortunes – it’s perfectly possible to do so without totally rewriting history and is important if we want our history to be as accurate and balanced as possible. But ignoring Christmas (which I wasn’t aware they had done) is totally unnecessary. It’s both a Christian AND a secular festival these days and is celebrated by people of many faiths simply for its messages of peace and family togetherness.
Thanks for commenting Sarah, but let me clarify a few points in case my post came across as ambiguous. I don’t think it was, but sometimes people have selective thinking the same way as they have selective hearing, but I’m not saying that’s what came across in your comment by the way.
Firstly, I agree with you that the NT should explain where the wealth came from where these estates are concerned. I’ve always thought that, although I do acknowledge that it may not have been easy for the Trust to do so in the early days. I’m also in agreement when you say that it’s perfectly possible to do so without totally rewriting history, although I don’t think the NT (and others) have done particularly well on that score.
As far as Christmas is concerned, I didn’t want to imply that the NT has cancelled Christmas because as far as I’m aware, they haven’t, but with so many organizations changing their policy to suit current trends, I’m afraid they might. I’m not religious as you probably know, but as far as I’m concerned we’re still a Christian country unless someone tells me otherwise, and if we want to be a secular country, that doesn’t bother me too much either. What does bother me though is that we’re being taken over by a faith that doesn’t believe in our values or way of life which is an altogether different thing, but nothing would please me more if I was to be proved wrong.
Having said all that, Christmas at Tyntesfield is still happening this year I believe, and long may it continue to do so.
Thanks again for your input Sarah.
An interesting post Malc, especially as quite coincidentally I’ve recently cancelled my NT membership due for renewal at the end of this month. I haven’t visited an NT property for at least five years, maybe more, and the last increase in membership fees made the decision for me – there’s no point paying for something I don’t use. Also I don’t like the way their values have changed – I’m not religious now but leaving Christmas and Easter off last year’s calendar yet including non-British festivals was just a step too far. However, Tyntesfield looks lovely, you got some great photos on your visit and I love the ponies.
I see it the same way Eunice. They’ve done some wonderful work but they seem to be discarding their hardcore supporters for the sake of DEI.