Black Manor

**Black Manor** is a country house in the village of Tisbury, in Wiltshire, England. It belonged to the Black family and was one of few properties to continue to be well-maintained into the 20th Century. The preferred weekend home of Cygnus Black III, brother of Sirius Black II, the country home was used to house cadet branches of the family at the turn of the century.

In the 1950s, the house was opened to the wizarding public for the first time. It became unpopular for a tourist attraction during the First Wizarding War, and closed in 1972. During this time, Black Manor hosted the family's private art collection. After the death of Cygnus Black IV in 1992, its last occupant, the place became unoccupied and most likely, like all the other Black family properties, fell into some form of disrepair.

## History

### Early history

Black Manor was most likely built in the first half of the 14th Century in the form of a later medieval fortress; however, very little of the original remains. It was updated in the first half of the 17th Century and a number of Black family lords made changes to the original foundations, building extravagant apartments, courtyards, and gardens within the 12 acre estate.

#### Architecture

The home as it stands today is, in essence, a Georgian and Victorian design based on a medieval structure, with Gothic features reinvented in a modern style.

The house suffered damages due to a fire in the 18th Century and was completely rebuilt by Ophiuchus Black, creating a set of extravagant Baroque interiors that are still admired today. Ophiuchus Black was a connoisseur of art, and paid greater attention to the aesthetic aspects of the home than his predecessors. As such with his improvements, there is almost nothing of the original fortress that once stood on these grounds.

### Later history

The addition of Grimmauld Place to Black family holdings in the late 18th Century was mostly responsible for a period of neglect to befall Black Manor. Betelguese Black preferred Grimmauld Place over Black Manor in the Wiltshire countryside, and took little interest in Tisbury as a whole. His son, Cygnus Black I, also preferred London and as such the manor's apartments were given out as "grace and favour" privileges for the use of prominent widows or other friends of the family.

After a period of neglect in the early 19th Century, Cygnus Black II wanted to reverse this trend when he became Head of the family in 1853. Cygnus disliked Grimmauld Place, and was attracted by the park at Black Manor. Cygnus wanted to move into Enfield Cottage on the grounds of the estate, but his brother, Eduardus Limette Black, was already living in it and refused to move out. Instead, Cygnus had to move into Black Manor proper, and started the long process of renovating the castle and the surrounding parks.

Cygnus Black II rebuilt a majority of the manor at colossal expense, producing the current design of the interior, full of Rococo, Gothic and Baroque furnishings.

### Recent history

The preferred weekend home of Cygnus Black III, brother of Sirius Black II, the country home was used to house cadet branches of the family at the turn of the century. Cygnus Black III primarily made use of Enfield Cottage, where his son, Pollux, was born, but as his family expanded they moved into a separate wing of the Manor itself.

Pollux Black lived on the grounds of Black Manor with his wife, Irma, and three children. Being of a cadet branch, his cousins remained in the larger home in London, while other branches made use of smaller family properties.

In the 1950s after the marriage of Orion Black and Walburga Black, the house was opened to the wizarding public for the first time. It became unpopular for a tourist attraction during the First Wizarding War, and closed in 1972. During this time, Black Manor hosted the family's private art collection. After the death of Cygnus Black IV in 1992, its last occupant, the place became unoccupied and most likely, like all the other Black family properties, fell into some form of disrepair.