Chartwell is a country house near the town of Westerham, Kent in Southeast England. For more than forty years, it was the home of Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and stayed there until some time before his death in January 1965. In the 1930s, when Churchill was expelled from political office, Chartwell became the center of his world. At his dinner table, he gathered people who could help his campaign against German armaments and the British government's response to cessation; in his study, he composed speeches and wrote books; in his garden, he built walls, built lakes, and painted. During the Second World War, Chartwell was largely unused, Churchill returned after his defeat in the 1945 elections. In 1953, when he returned to Prime Minister, the house became Churchill's refuge when he suffered a terrible stroke. In October 1964, he left for the last time, dying at his home in London, 28, Hyde Park Gate, on 24 January 1965.
The real estate origins reach back to the 14th century; In 1382, the property, called Well-street, was sold by William-at-Well. It passed through various owners and in 1836 was auctioned off, as a substantial manor, a brick built. In 1848, it was purchased by John Campbell Colquhoun, whose grandson sold it to Churchill. Campbell Colquhoun greatly expanded the house and advertising for its sale at the time of purchase Churchill described it as a "magnificent" home. Between 1922 and 1924, it was largely rebuilt and expanded by community architect Philip Tilden. From the front of the garden, this house has a vast view of Weald of Kent, "The most beautiful and charming church" ever seen, and the decisive factor in its decision to buy a home.
In 1946, when financial constraints forced Churchill to consider selling Chartwell, it was acquired by the National Trust with funds collected by a consortium of Churchill friends led by Lord Camrose, on condition that Churchill maintain a lifetime. After Churchill's death, Lady Churchill surrendered her rent and was open to the public by the Trust in 1966. The listed class I listed, because of its historical significance rather than its architectural merits, Chartwell has become one of the most popular properties in the Trust. ; about 232,000 people visited the house in 2016, the fiftieth anniversary of its opening.
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The site was built at least in the early 16th century, when the plantation was called Well Street. The origin of the name is Chart Well, spring to the north of the house today, Chart becomes Old English word for rough ground. Henry VIII is considered staying at home during his courtship Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle nearby. The Tudor home element is still visible, the English Historical listing for Chartwell notes that the 16th century (or perhaps 17th) brick can be seen on some external walls. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the house was used as a farmhouse and its ownership often changed. In 1848, it was purchased by John Campbell Colquhoun, a former member of parliament; Colquhoun Campbell is a Scottish family of landowners, lawyers and politicians. The original farmhouse was enlarged and modified during their holdings, including the addition of stepped gables, the Scottish Barocharecomqection to their ancestral land. At the time of the sale to Churchill, it was, in the words of Oliver Garnett, the author of a 2008 manual to the home, an example of "Victorian architecture in the most unattractive, a dark red-brick country mansion dwarfed by tile-hung gables and windows poky orok ".
Churchill at Chartwell
1922 to 1939
Churchill first saw Chartwell in July 1921, not long before houses and estates were auctioned. He returned the same month with his wife Clementine, who was initially interested in the property, although his enthusiasm cooled down during his next visit. In September 1922, when the house failed to sell at auction, he was offered for £ 5,500. He paid £ 5,000, after his first bid of £ 4,800, was made because "the house must be rebuilt, and the existence of the dry rot is a very serious bad factor", was rejected. The salesman was Archibald Captain John Campbell Colquhoun, who inherited the house in June 1922 over the death of his brother. Campbell Colquhoun was a contemporary at Churchill's at Harrow School in the 1880s. After completing the sale in September 1922, Churchill wrote to him; "I am very excited to have been the owner of" Chartwell. "I have searched for two years for a home in the country and its site is the most beautiful and charming I've ever seen." The sale ended on November 11, 1922.
15 months earlier has been a personal and professional disaster. In June 1921, Churchill's mother had died, followed three months later by her youngest child, Marigold. At the end of 1922, he fell ill with appendicitis and by the end of the year lost his Scottish parliamentary seat in Dundee.
Philip Tilden, architect of Churchill, began working at the house in 1922 and Churchill rented a farmhouse near Westerham, Churchill often visited the site to observe progress. The two-year development program, whose cost continues to increase, is up from an initial estimate of Ã, Â £ 7,000 to more than Ã, Â £ 18,000, and a series of construction difficulties, particularly with regard to wet and worsening relationships between architects and clients, and by 1924 Churchill and Tilden barely speak. The legal arguments, carried out through their respective lawyers, rumbled through 1927. Clementine's concern about the costs, both development and later residence at Chartwell also continued. In September 1923 Churchill wrote to him, "My beloved, I beg you not to worry about money, or feel insecure." Chartwell will be our home (and) we should strive to live there for many "Churchill eventually moved into the house in April 1924, a letter dated April 17 of that year to Clementine begins," This is the first letter I ever wrote from this place, and it is true that it should be for you. "
In February 1926, Churchill's political colleague Sir Samuel Hoare described a visit in a letter to the press of Baron Lord Beaverbrook; "I've never seen Winston before in a landowner role,... the engineering work in which he's involved consists of making a series of ponds in the valley and Winston seems to be much more interested in them than in anything else in the world." In January 1928, James Lees-Milne lived as a guest of Churchill's son, Randolph. He described the night after dinner; "We remained at the round table until after midnight Mr. Churchill spent two hours vigorously demonstrating with his glass of wine and decanters how the Battle of Jutland was fought.He worked like a schoolboy, made barking sounds in imitation shots, and blew cigar smoke across the scene battle in imitating gun smoke ". On September 26, 1927, Churchill composed the first of the Chartwell Bulletin, which was a long letter to Clementine, written for him when he was abroad. In bulletins, Churchill describes in detail the ongoing works of the house and gardens, and aspects of his life there. The Sept. 26 letter opened with Churchill's profound interest in the painting; "Sickert arrived on Friday night and we worked very hard on the various paintings... I'm really happy... I see how I paint a much better picture than I ever thought before".
Churchill described his life at Chartwell in the late 1930s in the first volume of his history of the Second World War, The Gathering Storm . "I've got a lot to cheer me up... I built... two cottages,... and a wall and made... a huge swimming pool that... can be heated to add to our changing sunlight so I... keep quiet - peace of mind in my residence ". Bill Deakin, one of Churchill's research assistants, remembers his work routine. "He will start the day at eight o'clock in bed, read, then he starts with his letter.The lunch conversation is pretty amazing,... absolutely free for all.After lunch, if he has a guest he will take them around park At seven o'clock he will take a shower and change for dinner In the middle of the night, when the guests leave, then he will start working... to three or four in the morning. power to concentrate. "
In the opinion of Robin Fedden, a diplomat, and then Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trust and author of the first Trust guide for Chartwell, the house became "the most important country house in Europe". The flow of friends, colleagues, disgruntled civil servants and worried military officials came home to provide information to support Churchill's struggle against easing. At Chartwell, he developed what Fedden called "his little foreign office... the center of resistance." The Chartwell visitor's book, carefully preserved from 1922, records about 780 guest houses, not all friends, but all grist to the Churchill factory. The last example is Sir Maurice Hankey, the Registrar of the Advisory Council, who was a Churchill guest for dinner in April 1936. Hankey later wrote, "I do not usually make a record of personal conversation but some points appear that give an indication of the line Mr. Churchill is likely to take in the upcoming debate (on ammunition and supply) in Parliament ". A week later, Reginald Leeper, a senior Foreign Office official and convinced Robert Vansittart, visited Churchill to express their views on the need to use the League of Nations to counter German aggression. Vansittart wrote, "There is no time to lose, and there is a great danger that we will be late".
Churchill also recorded a visit to Chartwell by two of his most important secret information suppliers, Desmond Morton and Ralph Wigram, information he used to "shape and fortify my opinion about the Hitler Movement." Chartwell is also a place of more direct efforts to prepare England for the coming conflict; in October 1939, when reappointed as First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of the war, Churchill proposed repairs to anti-aircraft bullets; "Such shells can be filled with ethyl zinc that catches fire spontaneously... A fraction of an ounce was shown at Chartwell last summer."
In 1938, Churchill, overwhelmed by financial problems, was again considered selling Chartwell, at which time the house was advertised as containing five reception rooms, nineteen beds and locker rooms, eight bathrooms, at eighty acres with three cottages in plantations and heated and swimming pools with spotlights. He pulled in sales after industrialist Henry Strakosch agreed to take over his stock portfolio, which has been severely beaten from losses on Wall Street, for three years and pay off significant related debt.
1939 to 1965
Chartwell was largely unused during the Second World War. His exposed position in an area so close to Germany occupied France, meant that he was vulnerable to air strikes or German commandos. As a precaution, the lakes are covered with bushes to make the house unidentifiable from the air. A rare visit to Chartwell occurred in July 1940, when Churchill inspected aircraft batteries in Kent. The assistant pre-war writer, Eric Seal, recorded the visit; "In the evening of PM, Mrs. C and I went to Chartwell, one of the features of this place is a series of ponds, filled with very large goldfish. The Churchills instead spent their weekend at Ditchley House, in Oxfordshire, until security repairs were completed at the Prime Minister's official residence, Checkers, in Buckinghamshire. At dinner at Chequers, in December 1940, John Colville, assistant to Churchill's personal secretary noted his master's postwar plan, "He will retire to Chartwell and write a book about war, which has been mapped in his chapter by chapter."
Chartwell remained a haven in acute stress times - Churchill spent the night there just before the fall of France in 1940. Called back to London by an urgent petition from Lord Gort to request permission to retire to Dunkirk, Churchill broadcast the first of his war speech for nation; "Arms yourself, and be brave people... for it is better for us to perish in battle than to see the rage of our nation..." He returned again on June 20, 1941, after the Battleaxe Operation failure to liberate Tobruk, and decided to fire the Middle East commander, General Wavell. John Colville notes Churchill's consideration in his diary; "spending the afternoon at Chartwell, after a long sleep, P.M. in a purple sleeping dress and a gray hat brought me to see the mascot, he pondered deeply about Tobruk's fate and contemplated how to continue the attack." Churchill continued to pay occasional, brief, home visits; at one such, on June 24, 1944, just after the landing of Normandy, his secretary noted that the house was "quiet and somewhat quiet".
After VE Day, Churchill first returned to Chartwell on May 18, 1945, to be greeted by what historians of horticulturist and park Stefan Buczacki said, "the greatest crowd Westerham ever saw". But the military victory was quickly followed by a political defeat when Churchill lost the June 1945 election. He soon went abroad, while Clementine returned to Chartwell to begin a long process of opening the home for his return - "it would be nice when the camouflage of the lake disappeared." Later that year, Churchill once again thought of selling Chartwell, concerned about the cost of running the plantation. A group of friends, organized by Lord Camrose, raised the £ 55,000 granted to the National Trust allowing him to buy the house from Churchill for £ 43,800. Pros provide an endowment. Sales completed on 29 November. For lease payments of £ 350 per year, plus tariffs, Churchill is committed to hiring 50 years, allowing them to stay at Chartwell until their death, at which time the property will return to the National Trust. Churchill noted his gratitude in a letter to Camrose in December 1945, "I feel how inadequate I am, my dear Bill, who (...) has never hesitated in your friendship for long years and full of turmoil ".
In the summer of 1953, Chartwell returned to Churchill refugee when, once again as Prime Minister, he suffered a major stroke. At the end of a dinner held on June 23 at 10 Downing Street, for Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, Churchill collapsed and could barely stand or speak. On the 25th, he was taken to Chartwell, where his condition worsened. Doctor Churchill Lord Moran stated that, "he does not think the Prime Minister could possibly live over the weekend". That night Colville called Churchill's closest friends in the media, Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Camrose and Brendan Bracken, who walked on the grass lawn at Chartwell, agreeing to try to ensure a blackout to prevent the reporting of Churchill's condition. Colville described the result: "They achieved tremendous success in plugging Fleet Street, something they would do for anyone except Churchill, and none of the words about the Prime Minister's stroke were published until he casually mentioned it in the House of Commons a year later". Secluded and protected in Chartwell, Churchill made a tremendous recovery and the thoughts of retirement quickly subsided. During his recovery, Churchill took the opportunity to complete work on Triumph and Tragedy, the sixth and final volume of his war history, which he had set aside when he returned to Downing Street in 1951.
Churchill's last departure from political office occurred some sixteen months later when, on 5 April 1955, he presided over his final cabinet, almost fifty years since he first sat in the Cabinet Room as President of the Council of Commerce in 1908. The next day he had a party tea for the staff at Downing Street before driving to Chartwell. When asked by reporters on arrival what it was like to be no longer Prime Minister, Churchill replied, "It's always nice to be home." For the next ten years, Churchill spent much of his time at Chartwell, although he and Lady Churchill also traveled extensively. His days were spent writing, painting, playing bezique or sitting "in a fish pond, feeding the gold ore and meditating". From his last years at home, Churchill's daughter, Mary Soames, recalled, "in the two summers he leaves he will lie in his 'cart' chair while contemplating the views of the valley he loves for so long." On October 13, 1964, Churchill's last dinner guest at Chartwell was his former personal secretary, Sir Leslie Rowan and his wife. Lady Rowan later recalled, "It is sad to see such a great man to be so weak". The following week, the less able, Churchill left the house for the last time. Martin Gilbert's official biographer notes Churchill is, "never saw his beloved Chartwell again". After his death in January 1965, Lady Churchill immediately released the lease and handed Chartwell to the National Trust. It was opened to the public in 1966, one year after Churchill's death.
National Trust: 1966 to 2017
The house has been restored and preserved as seen in the 1920-30s; at the time of purchase of Trust, Churchill committed to leaving it, "decorate and furnish in order to appeal to the public". The rooms are decorated with memorabilia and original gifts, furnishings and books, as well as the awards and medals Churchill received. Lady Churchill's longtime secretary, Grace Hamblin, was appointed first administrator of the house. Earlier in his career, Miss Hamblin had done the destruction of Churchill's portrait painted by Graham Sutherland. The picture, a gift from both Houses of Parliament on Churchill's 80th birthday in 1954, was hated by Churchill and Lady Churchill and had been stored in a cellar in Chartwell before being burned in secret.
The opening of the house requires the construction of facilities for visitors and restaurants designed by Philip Jebb, and built on the north of the house, along with the shop and ticket office. Changes have also been made to the garden, for easy access and maintenance. In 1987, the Great Storm caused great damage, with about twenty-three trees being blown up in the garden. Greater losses occur in forests around the house, which lose more than 70% of the trees.
Chartwell has become one of the most popular properties in the National Trust; in 2016 about 232,000 visitors come to the house. That year, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the house, Trust launched Churchill's Chartwell Appeal, to raise Ã, Â £ 7.1M for the purchase of hundreds of personal items held at Chartwell on loan from the Churchill family.. The items available to the Trust include the Nobel Prize in Churchill in Literature given to him in 1953. The quote for the award reads, "for the mastery of his historical and biographical descriptions and for his brilliant speech in defense of noble human values". The current medal is displayed in the first-floor Museum room at Chartwell, at the far end of the home for the study from which, in the words used by John F. Kennedy when giving him US honorary citizenship, Churchill, "mobilized the English language and sent it to battlefield ".
Maps Chartwell
Architecture and description
The highest point of the estate is about 650 meters above sea level, and this house has views across the Weald of Kent. The view from the house was very important to Churchill; many years later, he commented, "I bought Chartwell for that view."
Exterior
Churchill hired architect Philip Tilden, who worked from 1922-24 to modernize and expand the house. Tilden is an architect of "Society" who previously worked for Churchill's friend Philip Sassoon at his home in Kent, Port Lympne, and has designed the Lloyd George, Bron-y-de, house in Churt. Architectural style is everyday language. The house was built of red brick, two floors, with a large basement and attic. The door of the 18th century at the center of the front entrance was bought from a London antiques dealer. Architectural historian John Newman considered it, "big and beautiful and out of place". The garden wall on Mapleton Road is modeled at Quebec House, home of General Wolfe in nearby Westerham.
At the front of the garden, Tilden threw a massive three-floor extension with stepped-up jumps, called Churchill "my cape", which contained the three most important rooms in the house, the dining room, downstairs downstairs, and the pictures. rooms and bedrooms Lady Churchill above.
Interior
The interior has been renovated since the National Trust took over the property in 1966, to accommodate visitors and to allow the display of a large number of Churchillian artifacts. In particular, a number of guest bedrooms have been combined, to allow the construction of the Museum space and Uniform space. Nevertheless, most of the main rooms have been reconstructed and equipped as in the 1920s and 30s and are open to the public, with the exception of Churchill's current bedrooms.
Front hall and inner hall
Designed by Tilden, replacing previously paneled wooden halls, the rooms lead to the Lady Churchill library, living room and sitting room.
Dining room
The bottom of the "promontory" extension is Tilden, the dining room contains the original suite of tables and dining chairs designed by Heal for the demanding requirements of Churchill - (see box). A preliminary study for a picture planned by William Nicholson entitled Breakfast at Chartwell was hanged in the room. Nicholson, a frequent visitor to Chartwell who taught painting Churchill, drew the research for a finished picture that was meant to be a gift for Churchill Wedding Day celebrations in 1933 but, disliking the final version, Nicholson destroyed it. The picture depicts Churchills being shared, which they rarely do, and the Churchill, Tango marmarade cat. The tradition of keeping a marmalade cat at Chartwell, which Churchill began and follow throughout its holdings, is managed by the National Trust in accordance with Churchill's wishes. In a letter to Randolph written in May 1942, Churchill wrote of a brief visit to Chartwell the week before, "the goose and the black swan have been the victims of the fox, yet the Yellow Cat makes me sensitive to his ongoing friendship, even though I have not been there for eight months ".
Above the dining room there is a living room and, on top of that, Lady Churchill's bedroom, described by Churchill as "an extraordinary air striker".
Learn
Churchill's study, on the first floor, was "his workshop for over 40 years" and "Chartwell's heart". In the 1920s, as Minister of Finance, he planned his budget in the room; in the 1930s, in isolation, he composed his speeches that warned of the rise of Hitler and dictated the books and articles that paid bills; in 1945, defeated, he retreated here to write his history; and here, in his last retirement, he passed most of his old age. Throughout the 1930s, this research was the basis for the writing of many of his most successful books. The biography of his ancestor Marlborough and his book The World Crisis was written there, and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples began and was concluded there, despite being interrupted by the Second World. War. He also wrote many prewar speeches in the study, although the house was poorly used during the war itself. Tilden unpacks the initial roof beam by removing Victoria's final ceiling and inserting a Tudor suitcase. Of the blocks hanging three banners, Churchill's standard as Knight of the Garter and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Union Flag was raised above Rome on the night of June 5, 1944, the first British flag to fly over the liberated capital. The last one is a gift from Lord Alexander of Tunis. The study also contains portraits of Churchill's parents, Lord Randolph Churchill and Lady Randolph Churchill, the last by John Singer Sargent. The floor was covered with Khorassan rugs, a 69th birthday present for Churchill of the Shah of Iran at the Tehran Conference in 1943.
Outside the study room was Churchill's bedroom and adjoining bathroom, with a bath tub. At the opening of the house to the public in 1966, these rooms were inaccessible, at the request of the Churchill family but, shortly before his death in 2014, Churchill Mary's daughter gave permission for their opening, and the Trust planned to make them accessible in the year 2020.
Architectural award
Both the original Victorian house with the extension, as well as the reconstruction of Tilden, created a building that has been highly respected by critics. John Newman notes that thronging the house on the garden terrace, taking advantage of Wealden's view, is an "important group". He brushed aside the other side of the house as, "long, front-facing nears close to the road" and the overall composition as "a dull red brick and a weird uncertain style". Architectural writer and National Trust Chairman Simon Jenkins considered the house "nothing special". The National Trust guidebooks describe the original building as "the most unattractive Victorian-style architecture". The house is Grade I listed but the short list, Historical English makes it clear that this is "for historical reasons" not because of its architectural quality. Registered Grade II * garden listed.
Gardens and plantations
The gardens around the house consist of 8 hectares (20 hectares), with a further 23 hectares (57 hectares) of the park. They were mostly Churchill and Lady Churchill creations, with subsequent input from Lanning Roper, Garden Advisor to the National Trust. Victorian gardens have been planted with conifers and rhododendrons that were typical of that period. Churchill got rid of much of this planting, while keeping the forest outside. Inside the park, they created almost all landscapes, architectural features and water that are visible today. The front of the garden of the house opens onto a grassy lawn, originally separated from the garden outside by ha-ha and then by Kentish-built walled walls in the 1950s. To the north lies the Rose garden, laid out by Lady Churchill and her cousin, Venetia Stanley. The nearby Marlborough Pavilion was built by Tilden and decorated with frescoes by Churchill's nephew John Spencer Churchill in 1949. Outside the Garden of the Roses is a Water Garden, built by Churchill and belongs to the Golden Orfe pond where Churchill feeds its fish, and swimming pools are built in the 1930s. Churchill asked the advice of his friend and scientific teacher Professor Lindemann about the optimal method for heating and cleaning the swimming pool.
In the south, is Croquet grass, formerly a tennis court - Lady Churchill is an excellent and competitive player of both, although Churchill is not. Outside the courtyard are a number of buildings that are grouped around a Victorian kitchen-style garden, many of which were built by Churchill. He had developed an interest in brick making when he bought Chartwell and throughout the 1920s and 1930s built walls, summer homes and houses on the estate. In 1928 he joined the Extraordinary Trade Union Workers, a move that caused controversy. Near the kitchen gardens were the Golden Rose streets, a Golden Wedding Anniversary gift for Churchill from their children in 1958, and Churchill's painting studio, built in the 1930s, which now houses many collections of artwork.
The southern part of the grass terrace is the Upper and Lower lake, the most ambitious view of Churchill's landscape scheme. The Lower Lakes have existed for the possession of the Colquhouns, but the islands in it, and the Upper lake, are the creations of Churchill himself. On January 1, 1935, when Lady Churchill was sailing off the coast of Sumatra, Churchill described the beginning of his efforts in one of his Chartwell Bulletins; "I have arranged to have one of those great mechanical diggers, and in one week he can do more than 40 people who can do it, no trouble carrying him because he is a caterpillar and can walk on the most careless fields." The excavation work proved more challenging than Churchill anticipated, two weeks later he wrote again, "The mechanical digger has arrived, moving only with the caterpillar only with the greatest difficulty in this wetland".
On the lake live a large collection of Wildill poultry, including black swans, a gift from the Australian Government, which replenished the lake with them in 1975.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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