In researching the restoration, owners Brian Vowles and Nigel Daly undertook a thorough investigation of the legal documents relating to the Old Hall and uncovered a hitherto lost association with the house.
The first documents simply described Robert Bateman (1842-1922) as a ‘Gentleman’ – a man of private means – but a sales document from the 1930s described part of the house as “a modern sitting room made out of the studio of the artist Robert Bateman”. Although no evidence appeared to corroborate this reference, eventually an oil painting entitled ‘The Pool of Bethesda’ was discovered at the Yale Centre for British Art in America. It transpired Yale had bought the painting in 1966 incorrectly attributed to another artist and had been attempting to gather information on the shadowy figure of Bateman, colloquially known as ‘The Lost Pre-Raphaelite’.
The record of this obsessive intellectual adventure, written by Nigel Daly, was eventually published in 2014 by John Nicoll’s new imprint, Wilmington Square Books under the title “The Lost Pre-Raphaelite – the life and loves of Robert Bateman.” Since then the book has been reprinted and reviewed both in England and abroad.
The book’s publication has given rise to something of a cult centred on Bateman, his circle and Biddulph Old Hall. The house, with its ruins and gardens, secluded setting and crumbling texture, has come to be seen by many enthusiasts as the distillation or realisation of the imaginative dream-world inhabited by Burne-Jones and his followers.
As a result of the demand for further information about Bateman and his circle, a second book centred on new discoveries is currently planned.
