Literary Passion · Renishaw, Derbyshire
Renishaw Hall (model for Wragby Hall)
The Sitwells' Derbyshire seat is widely credited as the model for Wragby Hall in D.H. Lawrence's once-banned 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', the century's most notorious tale of a lady and her gamekeeper. Pair with Teversal (below) for the geography of the fiction.
Sources
Nearby on the map
Lawrence, raised nearby, based the fictional colliery village Tevershall on Teversal; the surrounding woods stand in for the setting of the novel's al fresco trysts. Teversal Manor has been marketed on its 'racy reputation'.
Documented + folkloreQueer HeritageMillthorpe (Edward Carpenter & George Merrill)Millthorpe, Derbyshire · EnglandThe market-garden home where the socialist philosopher Edward Carpenter lived openly with George Merrill decades before decriminalisation — sandal-making, vegetarianism and 'the intermediate sex' in the Derbyshire hills. A touch on the backside from Merrill, E.M
Documented historyBohemian & LibertineNewstead Abbey (Lord Byron)Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire · EnglandThe Gothic 'party palace' of 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' Lord Byron, backdrop to a rakish life of affairs; it was Lady Caroline Lamb, after their affair, who coined that immortal phrase. Note: rumours of a relationship with his half-sister Augusta are historically disputed and should be flagged as such.
Documented historyHot spotSpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.