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
Terri Sewell She received the Afro-American Studies Thesis Prize for her senior thesis, "Black Women in Politics: Our Time Has Come," which featured a personal interview with Shirley Chisholm, the first black U.S. Congresswoman. Sewell continued her education, receiving a master's degree with first-class Honours from Oxford University with the support of a Marshall Scholarship. At the age of 25, she published her Masters' thesis on the election of the first black members of British parliament as a book titled, "Black Tribunes: Race and Representation in British Politics" (1993). Sewell attended Harvard Law School with the help of an NAACP Legal Defense