Sewell Barn Theatre space for presentations, meetings and other private hire uses. Originally the barn belonged to Clare House which was owned by Philip Sewell, a local benefactor, from 1864 to 1906. Anna Sewell, author of the children’s story "Black Beauty", was Philip’s sister and lived in the White House, Spixworth Road, Spixworth. Philip owned a mare called Black Bess which used to draw his carriage along Spixworth Road and it might be supposed that Bess was the original inspiration for Black Beauty, and the barn a prototype for Black Beauty’s stable. The book was published by Jarrolds in 1877. Philip Sewell died
Anna V. S. Mitchell gypsy songs and dances" at a Junior League meeting in New York City, cohosted by her sister and her sister-in-law, to raise funds for the Russian Refugee Children's Welfare Society. Anna Mitchell lived in Boston in the 1940s. Anna V. S. Mitchell died in 1966, aged 88 years. One collection of her papers is held in the Hoover Institution Archives. Other papers of Mitchell's, including diaries from the period 1896 through 1925, are in the Olivia Stokes Hatch Papers at Bryn Mawr College Library. Anna V. S. Mitchell Anna V. S. Mitchell (1878–1966) was an American Red Cross worker in