Morris's weathervane
Philip Speakmann Webb
1859-60
Red brick and tiling
Morris's Red House
Bexleyheath, Greater London
Such was the attention to detail throughout that Morris had a specially designed weathervane sporting his initials, the date 1859, and a horse's head design. This motif would perhaps have been in reference to the medieval ideals of chivalry, or to Red House's position on the route to Canterbury. Its jaunty proclamation of ownership and idealism seems poignant now, reminding us of Rossetti's description of Red House as "more a poem than a house" (qtd. in Red House 7).
