C. R. Ashbee

Charles Robert Ashbee was an English architect, designer and social reformer and one of the driving forces of the Arts and Crafts movement. In 1888 he founded the Guild of Handicraft in the East End of London, a co-operative of craftsmen making silver, jewellery, furniture and printed books, and in 1902 he moved the guild and its families to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. His silver bowls and jewellery are among the finest of the movement, and the Victoria and Albert Museum holds many pieces. Court Barn in Chipping Campden tells the story of the guild and the craftsmen who stayed on after it closed.