KIPLIN Hall’s link with the Arts and Crafts Movement is the subject of a new exhibition based around the activities of Beatrice Carpenter, who lived at the hall during her married life and was active in spreading the ideals of the movement in and around Scorton.

Created by assistant curator Nancy Tanner, it brings together items from around the hall together with articles not previously displayed, including a terracotta figure of an angel and a lead cross painted in gold with a fruiting vine decoration.

The late 19th century movement believed in closeness to nature and the importance of craftsmanship.

These ideals were inspired by the writer and art critic John Ruskin and taken up by the designer William Morris.

Beatrice and her husband, Admiral Walter Carpenter, adorned their home with Arts and Crafts decoration and furnishings. Mrs Carpenter was also involved in the national Home Arts and Industries Association, founded in 1884, with the Admiral’s brother-in-law, Earl Brownlow, as its president.

The principal aims were to revive crafts such as wood carving, metalwork and leatherwork to provide a hobby to fill people’s leisure time profitably and to improve aesthetic tastes among the lower classes.

Mrs Carpenter was among those mostly upper and middle class women who organised and taught Saturday and evening classes in villages, towns and cities.

She taught classes in woodcarving and inlay to local men who made the furniture she designed. Many pieces are still at Kiplin Hall. Some made by the class, which was held at Bolton-on-Swale, were illustrated in The Studio magazine.

Copies of these magazines, ating from 1896-1901, are displayed in the exhibition, listing the names of many local makers.

A scrapbook depicts Beatrice Carpenter’s original drawing (c.1890) for a delicate cabinet inlaid with a decorative design of little birds and stylised trees, which is displayed alongside her artwork.

A central feature of the exhibition is the oak fireplace with over mantel, carved with vines, given to Kiplin Hall by the grandsons of Albert Hurwood (1875-1962) of Scorton.

He attended the classes and made many carved items of furniture for his home, including this piece, which took him 26 years to complete.

Other Arts and Crafts items in the house include blue and white tiles in the drawing room fireplace and richly glazed tiles showing ships and sea monsters on the library fireplace.

Kiplin Hall is open Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 2-5pm; entry to the exhibition and gardens is included in the admission price of £5, concession £4, child £3, family £15.

For more details, visit www.kiplinhall.co.uk or tel 01748-818178.