Long Crichel is a small and rather sleepy village in the Cranborne Chase. Shockwaves must have rippled through its country lanes in 1945, when a group of artists, critics, authors and gay rights activists moved in to the Long Crichel House… right next to the church.

#thread

Long Crichel House had been the church rectory until 1945 when it was sold to music critic and novelist, Eddy Sackville-West; his partner, music critic, Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Edward Eardley Knollys of the Bloomsbury Set. Soon literary critic, Raymond Mortimer joined them.

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The new owners of Long Crichel House had a wide circle of creative and influential friends who would meet here. The house – and village - became a retreat for like-minded people, including writers, composers, poets, artists and actors.

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: Eddy Sackville-West, @NPGLondon

Eardley Knollys was a leading light in the National Trust; he and the distinguished writer, James Lees-Milne, effectively ran @nationaltrust south-west operations from Long Crichel.

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Patrick Trevor-Roper, the prominent eye surgeon, shared Long Crichel House as his home. He was a pioneer of gay rights and gave evidence to the Wolfenden Report, which resulted in 1967 in the decriminalisation of gay sex for those over 21.

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Trevor-Roper was also instrumental in the creation of @THTorguk , the UK’s leading AIDS organisation. He is buried in the churchyard at Long Crichel.

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So, this sleepy village played a significant role in shaping British art, politics and human rights.

Today Long Crichel House is a bakery. A delicious range of high-carb comestibles are baked in the wood-fired oven there.
...It’s also where visitors collect the church key.

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