Bohemian & Libertine · Garsington, Oxfordshire
Garsington Manor (Lady Ottoline Morrell's set)
Ottoline Morrell's Tudor manor was the great house-party of literary modernism: Bertrand Russell was her lover, Lawrence repaid her hospitality by putting her in 'Women in Love', and the peacock-stalked gardens hosted more entanglements than the guest book could decently record.
More stories at this spot
- Ottoline & Russell's decade-long affair
- The 'Garsington Chronicles' of Huxley's 'Crome Yellow'
Sources
Nearby on the map
Where Wilde perfected the pose — blue china, sunflowers, a double first — that became the aesthetic movement. Oxford also formed the circles through which, years later, Bosie entered his life
Documented historyBohemian & LibertineMedmenham Abbey (the Monks of Medmenham)Medmenham, Buckinghamshire · EnglandThe riverside sham-gothic abbey where Dashwood's order first met, its door inscribed with Rabelais's 'Fais ce que tu voudras'. Contemporaries whispered of mock rites and masked ladies arriving by barge; the truth was scandalous enough that every account since has struggled to separate orgy from embellishment — this entry says so plainly.
Documented historyBohemian & LibertineThe Hellfire Caves, West WycombeWest Wycombe, Buckinghamshire · EnglandChalk caverns dug a quarter-mile into the hill for Sir Francis Dashwood's infamous brotherhood, whose motto — 'Fais ce que tu voudras', do what thou wilt — presided over banquets, blasphemy and 'nuns' hired from London. The deepest chamber, the Inner Temple, sits below the parish church: sinners underground, saints above.
Documented historyHot spotSpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.