Wappenbury Hall
WHEN I was heading home following a photo shoot in Warwickshire recently, I decided to take a brief detour to visit the nearby Wappenbury Hall. As the home of Jaguar’s founder and chairman, Sir William Lyons, for 48 years, it’s an important part of the company’s story. So despite visiting the location twice before, I still have a tingle of anticipation when I catch my first glimpse of the beautiful red brick mansion through the tall Poplar trees that border the property.
Originally built in the mid 1890s but extended several times throughout the 20th century, the house was bought by William in 1937 when he was still a relatively young man in his mid thirties. Although a dramatic change from the former Lyons family home, a comfortable but modest mock-Tudor house on Gibbet Hill Road to the south west of Coventry, it was part of his desire to, “live like people used to live.” And so along with the Hall came a butler, head gardener and domestic staff.
Despite its grandeur, the house would remain central to the Lyons family for the next five decades with birthday parties and wedding receptions held there. A conscientious part of the community, during the Sixties Sir William even served as chairman of the local parish council.
Yet the Hall would also play an important part in the design of Jaguar’s cars. Wanting to see the mock-ups of his new designs in a natural setting, Lyons would have them transported to the relative privacy of Wappenbury Hall’s gravel drive and watch how the shadows from the trees fell across them. This trend continued even after he retired since former designer and now Jaguar World columnist, Keith Helfet, remembers doing the same in the mid Eighties with his XJ41 project.
As a junior designer, Keith was surprised when he was invited inside by Sir William with the then chairman, Sir John Egan, for a sherry.
ONE OF JAGUAR’S DESIGN PRINCIPLES, OF ELEGANCE AND GOOD TASTE, WAS APPARENT THROUGHOUT HIS HOME
“I couldn’t help but notice that one of Jaguar’s design principles, of elegance and good taste, was apparent throughout his home,” said Keith in the October 2021 issue. “His aesthetic judgement was in everything, not just cars.”
During the war, the Hall’s spac
