William Morris designed this wallpaper between 1882-1883. The small square repeat of flowering bramble branches against a dotted background is just 26.7 x 27.7cm. The title could be a reference to the town of Christchurch, Hampshire. In 1882, Morris was staying nearby in Bournemouth and wrote in a letter objecting to plans to renovate Priory Church in Christchurch (see Norman Kelvin’s The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part A: 1881-1884, p.139).
This version was machine printed in 1962 by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd., who acquired the original wallpaper printing woodblocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940. It is printed down the right edge: ‘MADE IN ENGLAND / TRIM JOIN / MORRIS & Co’ and stamped on the reverse with the Sanderson colourway number ‘AS&S 90327’.
