Eleanor Coade (1733-1821) - artificial stone manufacturer extraordinaire

Close up view of the head of the Coade stone
statue of George III, Weymouth seafront © A Knowles

Profile

Eleanor Coade (3 June 1733 – 16 November 1821) was a Georgian businesswoman who successfully ran an artificial stone manufactory in London. There are many examples of Coade stone which still exist today including the King’s Statue, Weymouth. You can read more about Eleanor Coade and eleven other inspirational Georgian women in my book: What Regency Women Did For Us.

Available from Amazon here: What Regency Women Did for Us
 

 Early life

Eleanor Coade was born on 3 June 1733 in Exeter, Devon. She was the daughter of George Coade, a wealthy, non-conformist wool merchant, and his wife, Elizabeth Enchmarch. Eleanor had a younger sister, Elizabeth. In 1759, the family fortunes changed when George was declared bankrupt and they relocated to London.

Eleanor's Coade stone

By 1766, Eleanor, still unmarried, was operating as a linen draper. Three years later, seemingly unaffected by her father’s second bankruptcy, she bought an artificial stone manufactory situated at King’s Arms Stairs, Lambeth. Eleanor’s factory could produce in artificial stone almost anything that could be made in real stone, but at a cheaper price. Her products included decorative wall panels, vases and statues. She later diversified into scagliola – fake marble.

Eleanor was able to turn around the failing factory and make it successful. What set her business apart from other artificial stone manufactories was the quality and design of her products. She refined the formula for artificial stone – what she called lithodipyra – and carefully controlled the firing process, making her stone frost-resistant. She also employed top designers, most importantly, fellow non-conformist, the sculptor John Bacon (1740-1799).

View of Coade stone statues including the River God Thames inside the
kiln from European Magazine and London Review Volume 11 (1787)

In the 1780s, she took her cousin John Sealy into partnership and the business became known as Coade and Sealy.

The Coade Stone Gallery

Eleanor used every opportunity to promote her business. In the late 1790s, she built a gallery at the south bank end of Westminster Bridge where the public could come and view her products. She even sold guidebooks to visitors so that they could take a self-guided tour. The gallery participated so successfully in the peace illuminations of 1801 and 1802 that it was mentioned in The Times.

Eleanor drew people into her business by advertising in the newspaper when she had spectacular commissions on display, such as the colossal statue of Lieutenant-General Lord Hill, or new pieces for sale which she hoped would generate a lot of interest, such as the Warwick Vase.

Entrance to Coade and Sealy's Gallery of Sculpture
from European Magazine and London Review Volume 41 (1802)

The final years

When John Sealy died in 1813, the firm’s name reverted to Coade. Eleanor took on a distant relative, William Croggon, to manage the manufactory, but she did not make him her partner, nor did she leave him the business on her death.

Eleanor died at her home in Camberwell, Surrey, on 16 November 1821 aged 88 years. Her will included bequests to many charities and clergymen, and to numerous single women who were less fortunate than herself.

Coade stone

Coade stone has proved its durability by the number of pieces that have survived 200 years of facing the elements. Here are some that I have come across in my travels:

King’s Statue, Weymouth

A statue of George III on Weymouth seafront.

Statue of George III, Weymouth, Dorset

The River God, Ham House, Richmond

Statue of the River God, Ham House, Richmond

Coade stone lion in the visitor centre, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

The lion was designed by Benjamin West as a trial piece for the pediment in the King William Courtyard commemorating the achievements of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Coade stone lion, Old Royal
Naval College, Greenwich, London

Belmont House, Lyme Regis

This house was given to Eleanor by her uncle Samuel Coade and is decorated with Coade stone.

Belmont House, Lyme Regis, Dorset

Coade stone reliefs on Norwegian embassy, London

Coade stone relief, Norwegian embassy, London

Coade stone relief, Norwegian embassy, London

Coade stone torchere from Carlton House – one at Athelhampton House, Dorset

Coade stone torchere,
Athelhampton House, Dorset (2016)

Gothic conservatory, Carlton House, London, showing the Coade stone
torcheres in situ from Ackermann's Repository (1811)

Coat of arms on the front entrance of Saltram, Plymouth, Devon

Saltram, Plymouth, Devon

Twinings tea house, Strand, London

Entrance to Twinings tea house, Strand, London

Borghese Vase in Temple of Flora, Stourhead

Coade stone Borghese Vase in Temple of Flora, Stourhead

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian historical romance set in the time of Jane Austen. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Sources used include:
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics (1811)
Kelly, Alison, Mrs Coade's Stone (1990)
Roberts, Sir Howard, and Godfrey, Walter H, Survey of London Volume XXIII - South Bank & Vauxhall Part 1 (1951)
The European Magazine and London review, volume 11 (1787)
The European Magazine and London review, volume 41 (1802)
The Times online archive

 

All photos © regencyhistory.net

A Regency History guide to Athelhampton House in Dorset

Athelhampton House, Dorset

Where is Athelhampton?

Athelhampton is a Tudor manor house situated near Dorchester in Dorset. 

 

You can read a more recent blog about Athelhampton here.

A history of Athelhampton

The story of Athelhampton starts in 1485 when Sir William Martyn was granted the right to enclose his estate and deer park and build a stone manor with towers and crenellations—the battlements that give a castle its characteristic shape. The result was the Great Hall with a solar on one side, providing living accommodation, and a buttery on the other. Subsequent owners added the west wing and a gatehouse and extended the house to the rear.

View of Athelhampton House from the White Garden

About 100 years after the Great Hall was built, one of Sir William’s descendants, Nicholas Martyn, died without male heirs. He left the estate to his four daughters in equal shares and the house was split into separate dwellings. Sir Ralph Bankes of Corfe Castle acquired three of these shares by marriage and other means, but sold them to Sir Robert Long, 1st Baronet, to help finance his expensive new house at Kingston Lacy. 

This three-quarter share was subsequently inherited by Catherine Tylney-Long, who married the Duke of Wellington’s nephew, William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, 4th Earl of Mornington, in 1812. The Duke’s nephew only had a life interest in his wife’s property and so the house passed to her son William, 5th Earl of Mornington, on her death in 1825. He subsequently sold Athelhampton to George Wood who acquired the fourth share, reuniting the house once more. By now, the property was very run down, having been used by tenant farmers for many years. The gatehouse was demolished around 1862 and the Norman church was replaced by a new church before passing to a new owner, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine in 1891. 

Athelhampton House, Dorset

De Lafontaine laid out formal gardens and restored the house but sold it on when he ran out of money. Eventually, the house was bought by the Cooke family who sold it in 2019.

The house was visited often by the author Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) and was once lived in by the Russian cubist artist Marevna—Marie Vorobieff—whose paintings are on display in a gallery in the house.

The Gardens, Athelhampton House, Dorset

A change of ownership

 

Athelhampton House changed ownership in 2019. It still belongs to Historic Houses and is open to visitors, but its contents were sold at auction and I don't know how much of what I saw in 2016 is still the same as I haven't been back yet.

 

You can read about the auction here.

 

Find out about visiting Athelhampton House here.

A tour of Athelhampton House as it was in 2016

 

There were a number of items on display which are of particular interest to the Georgian historian. Some rooms are only viewable from the doorway.

Front door, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Great Hall

The Great Hall dates back to the late 15th century and includes some original heraldic glass. On the balcony, there is a George III mahogany organ.

The Great Hall, Athelhampton House, Dorset

King’s Ante Room

This little passage way includes some prints of Carlton House and a lovely portrait of George III’s fifth daughter, Princess Sophia.

Portrait of Princess Sophia, King's Ante Room,
Athelhampton House, Dorset

Wine Cellar

Just inside the entrance to the wine cellar is a Coade stone torchère. This was part of a set of ten candlestick stands made by Coade and Sealy of Lambeth in 1810 for George, Prince of Wales, at Carlton House. Coade and Sealy was the artificial stone manufactory run by Eleanor Coade, one of the women featured in my forthcoming book, What Regency Women Did For Us. At this time, Eleanor had taken her cousin John Sealy into partnership, hence the name, Coade and Sealy.

The Wine Cellar, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Great Chamber

The Great Chamber, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Library (now used as a billiard room)

This is one of the rooms that you can only view from the doorway. At the far end of the room is a Georgian globe which apparently shows the voyages of Captain Cook, but I couldn’t get close enough to see!

The Library, Athelhampton House, Dorset

King’s Room

The King's Room, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Green Parlour

The Green Parlour, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Dressing Room

There is a small collection of vintage clothing on display, including a Georgian dress and a Regency costume, though sadly, not easy to see from the doorway.

Vintage clothing in the Dressing Room, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Georgian dress in the Dressing Room,
Athelhampton House, Dorset

Yellow Bedroom Closet

Yellow Bedroom Closet, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Yellow Bedroom

Yellow Bedroom, Athelhampton House, Dorset

State Bedroom

A rather dark picture of the State Bedroom, Athelhampton House, Dorset

The Gardens

Although the formal gardens have no claim to Georgian origins as they were laid out in the 1890s, they are beautiful and well worth a visit. There are also other gardens formed later including The Canal and a bridge over the River Piddle leading to a short riverside walk. There is also a toll house within the grounds, beyond the Lime Walk.

Bridge over the River Piddle, Athelhampton House, Dorset

The Great Court

The Great Court, Athelhampton House, Dorset

The Corona

The Corona, Athelhampton House, Dorset

The Canal

The Canal, Athelhampton House, Dorset

The Dovecote

The dovecote was built in the early 16th century at the same time as the west wing.

The Dovecote, Athelhampton House, Dorset

Toll House

The Toll House at Athelhampton House, Dorset

Last visited: June 2016.

Blog updated: July 2021.

Rachel Knowles writes faith-based Regency romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage us and help us to keep making our research freely available, please buy us a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Sources used include:
Cooke, Patrick, Athelhampton House & Gardens (Dorchester, 2010)

All photographs © Andrew Knowles - RegencyHistory.net