| In 1945, Eddy Sackville-West, Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Eardley Knollys purchased Long Crichel House, an old rectory with no electricity and an inadequate water supply. In this improbable place the last English literary salon began. Quieter and less formal than the famed London literary salons, Long Crichel became an idiosyncratic experiment in communal living, and companionship became a stimulus for writing, for the owners and their guests. Long Crichel’s visitors’ book reveals a Who’s Who of the arts in post-war Britain – Nancy Mitford, Benjamin Britten, Laurie Lee, Cyril Connolly, Somerset Maughan, EM Forster, Cecil Beaton, Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson – who were attracted by the good food, generous quantities of drink and excellent conversation. Yet there was more to the story of the house than what critics variously referred to as a group of ‘hyphenated gentlemen-aesthetes’. In later years the house and its inhabitants were to weather the aftershocks of the Crichel Down Affair, the Wolfenden Report and the AIDS crisis. The story of Long Crichel is also part of the development of the National Trust and other conservation movements. Through the lens of Long Crichel, archivist and writer Simon Fenwick tells a wider story of the great upheaval that took place in the second half of the twentieth century. Intimate and revealing, he brings to life Long Crichel’s golden, gossipy years, and in doing so unveils a missing link in English literary and cultural history. Simon Fenwick is an archivist and author. He has worked on the papers of both Paddy Leigh Fermor and William Wordsworth, as well as for various country houses, private individuals and charities. He has also written for The Times, Telegraph, Independent and Guardian as well as for art magazines. Constable – 25th February 2021 – £25.00 hardback/eBook For further information please contact [email protected] |
The Crichel Boys: Scenes from England’s Last Literary Salon by Simon Fenwick is out now
