Background
Westbury Arts Centre occupies an ancient site. It was old before the Normans came south on their pillaging way to London and burned many other local manor houses in 1066. There was a medieval moated manor house here and the house was substantially rebuilt in 1670 – although a corner of the pre-17th Century manor remains as does part of the moat. The front door, legend has it, was made using timbers from the Spanish Armada. Through the years though, Westbury lost its status as a manor house and became a tenanted farmhouse, part of the 19th Century Hunting and Shooting Whaddon Chase landscape.
In the late 1950s, it was bought privately, and a modern extension added in the 60s, but not long after the new town of Milton Keynes was begun it was compulsorily purchased and the last owners left in 1986. In 1993, the Commission for New Towns offered the farmhouse and its gardens, now Grade II listed, to the Silbury Group, a group of local artists, and 15 members moved into Westbury.
In 2012, Westbury became a charity. The grounds no longer stretch to Howe Park Wood, once part of the Westbury Estate, but there are large gardens. There is one corner of the ancient moat still here and recently the Armada door was examined, and dated to the late Tudor period, giving the possibility that Armada legend might actually be true.
Westbury has been an arts centre for about 30 years, during which time it has grown from a temporary home to a charitable institution. Future plans for capital development would see a professional standard exhibition and performance space, facilities for people with disabilities, new studios and workshop spaces making Westbury an exciting destination for the people of Milton Keynes.
Westbury offers 19 studios to local artists on long- and short-term leases, as well as rooms for exhibitions and runs a comprehensive programme of workshops and events.