REPORTS

FEBRUARY 2026

A HISTORY OF IFORD’S FAMILIES & THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE LANDSCAPE

by Marianne Cartwright-Hignett

Frome Family History Group welcomed Marianne Cartwright-Hignett from Iford Manor to our February meeting. Marianne married into the Cartwright-Hignett family who have owned Iford Manor since the early 1960’s.

After introducing herself, Marianne told us of her love of history and her interest in the history of Iford Manor. Her research was so extensive that she employed two students from Oxford University to help her, resulting in her being able to tell us about the history of Iford going back to Roman times.

The first mention of a family at the Manor were the de Iford’s who arrived somewhere in the 1200’s and stayed until 1362. They were wealthy lawyers from Bath who then passed the land to the monks at Hinton Charterhouse. They were followed by the Horton family who were clothiers and ran several mills in the area. They stayed until William Horton, who styled himself as a gentleman, started to lend money and the house, by which time had become a family residence, was sold to the Hungerford’s in 1625. The following families were all clothiers until 1797 when the Gaisford family took over. The Gaisford’s planted the wisteria in 1825 which is still there today and attracts visitors from all over the world. They made substantial contributions to the gardens and finally sold to William Rooke in 1858.

The architect, Harold Peto bought Iford Manor in 1899 and stayed until 1933. He redesigned both the house and garden creating the great terrace, a summer house and repairing and improving the whole site which is now grade one listed.

Iford Manor was sold by the Peto family to Elizabeth Cartwright who married John Hignett and became Elizabeth Cartwright-Hignett. John Hignett created the Japanese garden and together with Marianne and William Cartwright-Hignett who took over in 2020, created a café, restaurant and a shop. They also run a 1000-acre estate where the emphasis is on sustainability and regeneration whenever possible.

Marianne was thanked for an excellent presentation with beautiful photographs of the gardens.

Chris Featherstone