Renishaw Hall in
Derbyshire is consistently voted one of England’s most beautiful houses and its
exquisite gardens scoop awards and applauds all over the show, and in his new
book historian Desmond Seward celebrates the 400+ years of English history
banked into its foundations.
Perhaps most famous as
the home of the literary trio Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell (who were
the biggest rivals to the Bloosmbury Group of the 1910s and 1920s), Renishaw’s
heritage actually extends back to its foundations in 1625 when the first George
Sitwell saw his plans for the family home take shape and he assumed residence. Inevitably, due to the ease of information about more recent history,
the second half of the book focuses on the past 100 years while the first half
whizzes through the first three hundred.
Through Renishaw Hall: The Story Of The Sitwells,
Desmond meticulously catalogues each and every triumph and set-back in the long
history of the Sitwell family – at times painfully so. Because while the book is
undoubtedly rich in detail, there is the impression that Desmond has been so
thorough in his endless research for this book that there is no scrap of
information he has left out. The result is a somewhat bamboozling avalanche of
information, much of which relates to historical figures whose entry in the
book is fleeting, leaving the reader with a phenomenal cast of characters to
try and keep tabs on.
With such a rich seam
of characters and events to share with contemporary readers, I felt it a pity
that Douglas’ book read so drily and didn’t bring the story of the house and
its inhabitants to life in the same way that, for example, the gorgeous colour picture sections do. However, to
read about the forgotten Sitwell family members is fascinating and is an excellent history
lesson.
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