Saturday, September 06, 2014

Charleston farmhouse


Leonard Woolf, the husband of Virginia Woolf stumbled upon Charleston which was near to where he and Virginia were living.It was the time of World War I,Vanessa Bell, her children and two other friends, Duncan Grant and David Garnett were living at a place called Wissett. Viriginia wrote to Vanessa 'I wish you'd leave Wissett and take Charleston. It is lovely, large rooms, a garden, rather wild now but you could make it lovely.' Duncan Grant and David Garnett were conscientious objectors to the war and had to find work which the war department deemed patriotic. They were picking raspberries at Wissett and this wasn't considered patriotic. Otherwise they would be conscripted. So Vanessa rented Charleston so the the two men could work at the farm nearby. That was how they came upon to be at Charleston where Vanessa lived for the rest of her life. So did Duncan, her gay lover. They were both buried at a cemetery nearby, next to each other. Charleston, when they moved in, doesn't look anything like the Charleston today.......

1 comment:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

A very interesting post. Thank you.