Jewson, Norman 1884 - 1975

Norman Jewson was born in Norwich, Norfolk , England 12 February 1884. After studying architecture at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge from 1902,  he was articled to his cousin Herbert George Ibberson (c1866-1935) in London.  On completing his articles in 1907, at Ibberson's suggestion, he visited Ernest Gimson (1864-1919) at the workshop he shared with Ernest Barnsley (1863-1926) and Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926). in Sapperton, Gloucestershire, and spent a period with him as an improver. He subsequently became a close friend and admirer of Gimson.  For a period Jewson worked in partnership with Gimson before setting up his own practice in Cirencester in 1919, the year of Gimson's death.

Jewson was a committed member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAD) and his work as an architect mainly involved the restoration of old buildings sometimes in collaboration with William Weir (1865-1950), a Scottish-born architect who specialised in the repair of ancient structures. His most outstanding work is considered to have been his restoration of  Owlpen Manor, a Tudor manor house in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, which he purchased in 1925.

In 1911, Jewson married Ernest Barnsley’s daughter, Mary (1889–1966) and was later to assist his father-in-law in the building of Rodmarton Manor in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, overseeing the completion of the project following Barnsley's death in 1926.

In addition to his work as an architect Jewson also designed furniture and was a woodcarver.

Jewson was elected a member of the Art Workers' Guild in 1918. He was the author of two books, his autobiographical By Chance I Did Rove (1951), and A Little Book of Architecture (1940).  He died in Sapperton, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire on 12 February 1975.