Queer Heritage · Keswick (Catbells/Derwentwater), Cumbria (Cumberland)

Hugh Walpole's Brackenburn — Queer Lakeland

A best-selling novelist, a married ex-policeman 'chauffeur', and a discreet lifelong love lived out in a house above Derwentwater.

StatusDocumented history
Date1924–1941
The peopleSir Hugh Walpole (1884–1941), Harold Cheevers
The siteBrackenburn, on the slopes of Catbells above Derwentwater (Walpole's home 1924–1941); grave at St John's churchyard, Keswick
Coordinates54.56900, -3.15900 (confidence 3/5)

Evidence note. Handled as documented queer heritage: the relationship is recorded by his biographer and modern LGBTQ heritage projects; no unproven claims.

The story

a best-selling novelist and his married ex-policeman companion, above Derwentwater. The story: 1924–1941 at Brackenburn; Harold Cheevers; the Herries Chronicle landscape; documented in Cumbria LGBTQ heritage. What survives: Brackenburn (private), Derwentwater/Catbells, and Walpole's grave at St John's, Keswick. Visiting: house private; photograph Catbells/Derwentwater and the grave.

Sources

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