Overview

‘A revelatory masterpiece, a true alternative history of our times’ - Simon Jenkins, former Chair of the National Trust LGBTQ+ histories and identities come out of the National Trust’s properties in these touching, poignant and revealing stories. National Trust houses and landscapes might seem to embody conventional family values, but for generations some very different stories were hidden away. These belong to owners now considered queer for defying the norms of sexual orientation or gender identity – sometimes blatantly, occasionally as open secrets, but most often very discreetly. Michael Hall explores not only the best-known examples of sexual difference, such as Lawrence of Arabia at Clouds Hill, Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst and the ‘Dancing Marquess’ at Plas Newydd; he also covers more recently unveiled stories, such as the lesbian community at Smallhythe and the homosexual scandals associated with Clumber. Then there were the quietly confirmed bachelors, keen to pass their properties and collections to the Trust for posterity... These stories are set against the queer history of the National Trust itself, such as its foundation in 1895 against the backdrop of Oscar Wilde’s trials; hidden queer influences within the Trust in its early days; and the role of homophobia in its reorganisation in the 1960s; and the evolution to inclusivity and understanding in the twenty-first century.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Hall
Publisher:   Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
Imprint:   Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 4.60cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.771kg
ISBN:  

9781781301142

ISBN 10:   178130114
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   05 February 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction – the book’s approach 1. The creation of the Trust, its ideals and their relationship to issues of queer identity 2. Octavia Hill 3. Buildings: Philip Webb, C.R. Ashbee and the Arts and Crafts Movement 4. Landscapes: E.M. Forster, Piney Copse, Figsbury Ring and Wenlock Edge 5. Kingston Lacy and Studland: William Bankes 6. Clumber: The Pelham-Clintons 7. Knole: Vita Sackville-West and Eddy Sackville-West 8. Sissinghurst: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson 9. Smallhythe Place and Priest’s House: Edith Craig, Tony Attwood and Christopher St John 10. Lamb House, Rye: Henry James and E.F. Benson 11. Clouds Hill: T.E. Lawrence 12. Plas Newydd: the Dancing Marquess, Lady Caroline Paget and Rex Whistler 13. Bachelors: focusing on Lord Fairhaven at Anglesey Abbey, Gavin Henderson at Buscot, Ralph Dutton at Hinton Ampner and Patrick Gwynne at Homewood. Conclusion: James Lees Milne, the country-house scheme and the modernisation of the National Trust

Reviews

‘A revelatory masterpiece, a true alternative history of our times’ -- Simon Jenkins, former Chair of the National Trust

Author Information

Michael Hall has published several books on architecture, country houses and collecting, including Waddesdon Manor: The Biography of a Rothschild House (3rd ed., 2012), George Frederick Bodley and the Later Gothic Revival in Britain and America (2014) and Art, Passion and Power: The Story of the Royal Collection (2017). A former Architectural Editor of Country Life and Editor of Apollo, he was Editor of The Burlington Magazine from 2017 to 2024.

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