"The Haunted Manor," Clapton-in-Gordano

Hartrick employs loose, fluid brushwork that blends colour to convey atmosphere rather than precise detail. The watercolour washes create a soft, dream‑like quality, while the varied tones of green and brown suggest texture in foliage and the weathered stone of the building.

Created under the wartime Recording Britain project, the painting was part of a government‑sponsored effort to document the nation’s landscape during World War II. Funded by the Pilgrim Trust and overseen by Sir Kenneth Clark, the scheme employed artists to record sites threatened by bomb damage and social change. The work now belongs to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection.

The Recording Britain initiative gathered over 1,500 works from 97 artists, aiming to preserve visual records of England, Wales, and Scotland amid fears of urban expansion, rural decline, and wartime destruction. Hartrick’s manor exemplifies the project’s focus on ordinary, sometimes forgotten, places that together form the country’s cultural heritage.