A Queer Inheritance

An enthralling exploration of LGBTQ+ identities in a country-house setting and the role of queer heritage in historic properties.

For many, the National Trust embodies a comfortable heritage of beautiful British landscapes, buildings and gardens. A Queer Inheritance explores a more complicated aspect. Although its properties often seem cocooned in conventional ideals about family life, many have very different stories – of owners now considered queer for defying societal norms of sexual orientation or gender identity. Some, such as Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst or the ‘Dancing Marquess’ at Plas Newydd, are well-known examples of sexual difference; others, such as the lesbian community at Smallhythe, or the succession of men involved in homosexual scandals who were associated with Clumber, have only recently come to our attention.

The place of country houses in the National Trust’s history is also examined from a new angle, in that many were created by bachelors who wanted to preserve their properties and collections. Michael Hall sets these stories of places against the queer history of the National Trust itself. In particular, he places its foundation in 1895 alongside the social anxieties that led to the trials of Oscar Wilde, and examines the role of 1960s homophobia in the National Trust’s change from an upper-class coterie into a modern diverse organisation.