Sissinghurst Flower Show 280
Sissinghurst village 132
Sizergh Castle, Cumbria 159
Smarden 126, 149
Smith, John 42
Smyth, Ethel 284
Snoad 128, 133
Soil Association 112, 113, 115, 116, 156, 157, 167, 249–50, 304, 309
Spectator 34–5
Spencer House, London 159, 160
St Levan, John 160
Staniforth, Sarah 162
Staplehurst 45, 101, 126, 132, 134, 180
Staples, Mrs 15, 49
Stark, Freya 285
Stearns, Catherine 241, 249
Stearns, James 11, 14, 30, 54, 55–6, 55, 57, 58, 115–16, 118, 143, 241–3, 246–9
Stearns, Linda 241, 249
Stearns, Mary 30, 118, 143, 241, 242, 243–5, 249
Stearns, Pat 11, 241–2, 246, 247–9, 250
Stearns, Stanley 58, 61, 245
Stein, Gertrude 109
Stocker, Phil 113–14, 115, 116, 157
Stone 140–1, 177
Stone Age 9
Stour, River 6
Strachey, Lytton 255
Strafforde, Lady 205, 206
Sturry 127
Summerson, Sir John 178
Sunday Times 264
Sutton Valence 126
Swing Riots 234
Taylor, Sir George 44, 46
Tempest, George 218–19
Thackray, Caroline 156
Thomas, Edward 128
Thorpe, John 190
Three Chimneys 126, 198
Tolehurst 128, 134
trees: acorn 37, 38, 82, 84, 129, 138, 143, 144, 153; alder 6, 31, 34, 37, 82, 83, 95, 112, 124, 147; ash 82, 84, 132; beech 15, 76, 82, 83, 84–6, 129, 131, 132, 143, 144, 198, 199–200, 214, 215, 232, 233; birch 14, 60, 86, 215, 236, 291; blackthorn 82, 83, 95, 114; cedar 100; chestnut 3, 9, 10, 72, 83, 105, 168, 200, 233, 236, 238, 291, 304; coppice 3, 9, 10, 143, 190, 200, 201, 236; elder 14, 30; elm 82, 84, 295; hawthorn 82, 84, 89, 95, 100, 130, 236; hazel 2, 4, 6, 18, 82, 94, 95, 112, 143, 207, 291; hornbeam 83, 201; maple 6, 130, 132; oaks 2, 4, 10, 12, 17, 26, 37, 49, 52, 74, 79, 82, 83–4, 86, 87, 91–2, 92, 93, 94, 95, 123, 124, 129, 130, 138, 143, 144, 147, 154, 167, 168, 180, 194, 197, 199, 200, 201, 214, 215, 224, 232, 233, 236, 237, 238, 249, 284, 291; poplars 49, 94; Scots pines 76; survey of Sissinghurst, 1763 232 walnut 236; wildwood 92–6; willows 1, 82, 84, 112; yew 64, 65, 132 see also Sissinghurst Castle Farm: woods
Trefusis, Violet 262–3, 264, 265–6, 289
Tunlafahirst 134
Tyndale, William 171–2
Tyntesfield 161
Ulcombe 93, 94
Vass, Jack 279, 280
Vera, Frans 93, 94–5, 130
Verlaine, Paul 16
Wadd 132
Waddesdon 109, 110
Wallace Collection 259
Wallenberg, J. K. 128
Walpole, Horace 194, 199, 218, 318
Walston, Oliver 308–9, 311, 312, 313
Warwick, Lady 205
Warwick, Lord 213–14
Watling Street 124
Watson, Guy 164
Weald 31, 36, 124, 147, 149, 202, 204, 235, 266; A N explores as a child 4, 5, 15, 16; ancient past 81–2, 96, 98–9, 102; cloth-making in 174–5; fifteenth century 170, 171; first English people arrive in 127, 128; fourteenth century 170; High Weald 86, 99, 128; landscape of 200; lanes 98–9; Low Weald 4, 6, 93, 94, 97, 98, 99, 116, 123, 130, 316; mixed farming 105, 158, 249; ownership of 139–40, 141, 142, 177; place names 128, 129, 130, 132, 134, 138; rebellion and resistance within 171–2; richness of 96–7; Roman 125; soil 75, 77, 78, 96–7, 174–5; woods/trees 86, 88–9, 91, 93, 94, 125, 138, 143, 144, 215
Weeden, Peter 301
Wellesley, Dottie 240, 267, 285
West, Rebecca 265
Westgate 138, 139, 146
Whitsunden 127, 135, 232
wildwood 92–6
Wilforde, Lady 181
Wilkie, Kim 166
Wilkinson, Sue 301
William the Conqueror 6
Wilmshurst, John 240
Wilmshurst, William (son of William) 240
Wilmshurst, William 239–40
Wilsley 128, 135
Wimpole 42
Wivelsleah 135
Woolf, Virginia 255, 268, 276, 284, 288
Wordsworth, William 326
Wriothesley, Thomas 182–3
Wyatt, Thomas 172
Wye 126, 138, 149, 245
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The length of this list of acknowledgements is itself a sign of how many layers of thought and direction go into running a place like Sissinghurst. It is a deeply complicated business.
First, I must thank the four people without whom the farm project at Sissinghurst would never have happened: Sally Bushell, the Trust’s property manager; Jonathan Light, until recently the area manager; Sue Saville, regional director in the south-east; and Fiona Reynolds, director-general of the Trust. Sissinghurst owes them all untold thanks.
Beyond them, I would like to thank everyone in the National Trust who has given me and Sissinghurst their help and expertise over the last few years, in particular David Adshead; Jane Arnott; Mike Buffin; Tony Burton; Tim Butler; Sue Clement; Michelle Cleverley; Andy Copestake; Ivo Dawnay; Ed Diestelkamp; Jane Fletcher; Louisa Freeman-Owen; Harry Goring; Sue Herdman; Rob Jarman; Lynne Kemp; Sue Knevett; Rob Macklin; Maggie Morgan; Simon Murray; Peter Nixon; Matthew Oates; Dottie Owens; William and Merry Proby; Stuart Richards; Richard Saville; Emma Slocombe; Sarah Staniforth; Caroline Thackray; Richard Wheeler; and Sue Wilkinson.
The changes this book describes have not been easy and I am immensely grateful to everyone working at Sissinghurst for tolerating the disruptions I have caused, especially to Claire Abery; Stephen Barnett; Maddie Bell; Di Bennett; Sam Butler; Ginny Coombes; Amy Covey; Alexis Datta; Emma Davies; Peter Dear; Stacey Deaves; Sue East; Peter Fifield; Gavin Fuller; Anita Goodwin; Jo Jones; Matthew Law; Tom Lupton; Daniel Mead; Clemmie Mendes; Philip and Joy Norton; Lynda Pearce; Tim Prior; Heather Reece; David Reynolds; Victoria Roberts; Sarah Roots; Jacqui Ruthven; Jean Shill; Wendy and Tony Tremenheere; Sue Watson; Barbara White; Maggie White; Caroline Wilding; Nathanael Wilkins; and Michelle Woodcock.
Mary Stearns; Brian and Linda Clifford; Pat, Catherine and the late James Stearns are all members of a family which has been at Sissinghurst since the 1920s. They have helped me enormously with their time, memories, insights and the loan of precious photographs and documents.
My own family has been encouragement itself, none more than my wife Sarah Raven, who from the beginning has poured untold amounts of energy and time into the farm project; my sisters Juliet and Rebecca Nicolson; my children Tom, William, Ben, Rosie and Molly Nicolson; my cousins Vanessa Nicolson and Robert Sackville-West; my nieces Flora and Clemmie Macmillan-Scott; as well as the irreplaceable Charles Anson and David O’Rourke.
Many friends have helped in different ways: Simon Bishop; Charlie Boxer; Emma Bridgewater; Helen Browning; Jonathan Buckley; Carla Carlisle; Antonio Carluccio; Sue Clifford; Priscilla Conran; Harry Cory-Wright; Tim Dee; Sheila Dillon; Montagu and Sarah Don; Martin Drury; Jo Fairley; Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall; Simon and Lucinda Fraser; Katrin Hochberg; Patrick Holden; Glenn Horowitz; Mary Keen; William Kendall; Angela King; Robin Leach; John and Kate Leigh-Pemberton; Tom Maynard; Pip Morrison; Tom Oliver; Andrew Palmer; Anna Pavord; Dan Pearson; Thomas and Flora Pennybacker; Sorley Pennybacker; Johann Perry; Sigrid Rausing; Matthew Rice; Norman Rose; Jacob Rothschild; Peter Rumley; Craig Sams; Claire Spottiswoode; Phil Stocker; Penny Tweedie; Guy Watson; Peter Weeden; Claire Whalley; Kim Wilkie; Fred Windsor-Clive; and Sofka Zinovieff.
Others who have unstintingly given their assistance are: Tony Allison; Nicola Bannister; Peter Brandon; Betty Carman; Hadrian Cook; Nicholas Cooper; George Ellis; Lorraine Flisher; Douglas Green; Paula Henderson; Mark Hoare; Jeremy Hodgkinson; Maurice Howard; Alastair Laing; Todd Longstaffe-Gowan; Tom Maynard; Nick Newell;
Susan Pittman; Ernie Pollard; Lee Prosser; Jeremy Purseglove; Ben Raskin; Margaret Richardson; Kirsty Righton; Tony Singleton; Michael Zell.
Caroline Dawnay and Zoe Pagnamenta have been stalwart allies as ever. At HarperCollins Susan Watt, Pria Taneja, Vera Brice and Helen Ellis have worked their usual miracles. In particular I would like to thank Peter Wilkinson for drawing the maps. Derrick Bradbury’s picture of Sissinghurst was only identified by chance. He very kindly had it photographed for this book. If there is anyone else who knows of images, artefacts, plans or pictures of Sissinghurst, please get in touch with the author on [email protected]
About the Author
Adam Nicolson’s books include God’s Secretaries, Sea Room, Sissinghurst, and Restoration. He has made television and radio series on diverse subjects, from the King James Bible to Homer to the untold story of Britain’s twentieth-century whalers, and has written for the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, and the Daily Telegraph. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Nicolson counts the Somerset Maugham Award, the W. H. Heinemann Prize, and the British Topography Prize among his honors. He lives on a farm in Sussex, England, with his wife and their five grown children.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Lines from ‘Horses’ by Wendell Berry copyright © 1999 by Wendell Berry from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint.
Copyright © 2008, 2009 by Adam Nicolson
Cover design by Andy Ross
Cover photo by Tony Hisgett/Creative Commons
ISBN: 978-1-5040-1569-1
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Sissinghurst, an Unfinished History Page 33