The Name
Kelmscott manor was the name of Morris’s estate in Kelmscott, West Oxfordshire. Morris was inspired by the idyllic countryside setting, and was often seen going on long walks through the fields and fishing on the Thames in a small boat. He went on to name his residence in Hammersmith, London Kelmscott house, and when he established his private press in Hammersmith in January of 1891, he called it Kelmscott Press.
Today the Kelmscott manor in Oxfordshire is a private home, with the basement and coach house serving as the Kelmscott House Museum and headquarters for the William Morris Society. Morris and Rossetti co-leased the estate as a retreat in 1871, but it eventually became a refuge for Rossetti and Jane Morris’s continuing affair. Morris refused to live there while his wife and Rossetti were in residence, stopping there for only a few days at a time.
