The United Kingdom is renowned for its long history and heritage. In fact, the largest of those United Kingdom’s England, celebrates its 1100th anniversary next year.
Until 20th September the whole UK is celebrating its heritage with the latest annual Heritage Open Days. This is a short period when museums, galleries, stately homes, castles, parks, private gardens and places of historical interest open free to the public. Many of these, especially churches, are open every day, but there are hundreds of places that are private and not accessible to the public that have been encouraged to open their doors for a few days to showcase their heritage.
Where I live in Nottinghamshire I am lucky to be surrounded by many places of historical interest, whether it’s Nottingham Castle and Sherwood Forest, or the birth place of the founder of the Salvation Army and the first road in the world that was covered in tarmac.
Today I want to present a few sites of lgbt heritage. Some of them you may know, but some you may not. I won’t dwell too much on the city of Nottingham itself because I covered quite a bit of its heritage in this City Pride article.
Above is a map of the UK, and in green is the county of Nottinghamshire. Below is a map of Nottinghamshire with a selection of places relevant to lgbt history.
1) All Saint’s parish church, Misterton: This church is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and is very familiar to me because Misterton is where I call “home” (I’ve lived in Nottingham since 1998 but don’t call it home). LGBT Link: (Apart from myself!) In 1910 the vicar of Misterton, Rev. Thomas Philips, was convicted of homosexual acts against choirboys and was jailed. Speaking as the village historian for over 45 years I don’t know of another clergyman in Misterton of any denomination who have been identified who was gay.
2) Windmill at North Leverton with Habblesthorpe: This village with the longest name in England (and the second longest village name in Europe) has a working windmill that was built in 1813. It is usually open every Saturday and you buy flour that was milled there. LGBT Link: This is one of hundreds of windmills around the country that was painted or drawn by Karl Wood. He began a project he called Mühlendämmerung (Twilight of the Mills) in the 1920s in which he endeavoured to paint very surviving windmill in the UK at the time. North Leverton mill was one of them. I included Karl’s military career here in 2014, and a brief account of his imprisonment for homosexuality.
3) Retford Town Hall: Built in 1868. This market town is another place I know well, and an ancestor of mine was Bailiff of Retford in the 1600s. LGBT Link: Ian Campbell was elected Mayor of Retford 2010-11. At 23 he was the youngest mayor in the UK at the time (despite claims on the internet, he was not the first openly gay UK mayor). Being Mayor of Retford is quite unusual, because there is no Retford town council. In 1974, local government in the UK was reorganised, and Retford borough was abolished and its councillors transferred to the larger district council. However, district councillors elected to former Retford borough wards, including those currently elected, become Charter Trustees of the borough. The Charter, granted in 1246, allows the Trustees to elect a ceremonial mayor from their number. Ian Campbell was a Charter Trustee 2010-14. He later became Chair of the district council 2012-14.
4) Worksop Priory Church and Gatehouse: The only surviving remains of the former Augustinian priory founded in 1103 by William de Lovetot (another ancestor). Like all monastic establishments it fell victim to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a campaign begun in 1536 by King Henry VIII after he declared himself Head of the Church of England. LGBT Link: Before the Dissolution all monastic establishments were visited by Henry VIII’s agents to ascertain their wealth, and to paint the reputation of all the monks, friars, nuns and canons in as bad a light as possible to justify their dissolution. The canons of Worksop Priory were among hundreds who were accused of sodomy, incontinence, adultery, and unnatural sin. While the first three terms could be applied to sex with either a man or woman, the fourth was usually reserved for homosexual activity. Four of the 13 canons at Worksop were accused of unnatural sin. Their names were not recorded.
5) Clumber Park: Only the park, stables and church remains of this once magnificent estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. The stately home was demolished by the Duke in 1938. The park is now owned by the National Trust. LGBT Link: Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton was the son of the Duke of Newcastle and was elected MP for Newark 1865-8. He has a relationship with a famous Victorian cross-dresser and drag act Ernest Boulton, who billed himself as Lady Stella Clinton. Sadly, Lord Edward was dragged into the trial of Boulton and his fellow cross-dressing act Frederick Park who were arrested for appearing in female clothes in public in 1870. Rather than testify against them, Lord Edward mysteriously disappeared. It is said he either fled abroad or committed suicide (covered up by his family).
6) Thoresby Hall: A grand 17th century mansion and park, the former estate of the Pierrepont family. It is now a hotel. LGBT Link: This is the birthplace of Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (née Pierrepont). She has featured several times on this blog, especially in this Extraordinary Lives entry.
7) Holocaust Memorial Centre, Laxton: The only national centre dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and other ethnic conflicts since World War II. LGBT Link: Thousands of lgbt victims of the Nazi regime are commemorated here. A memorial plaque to the lgbt victims was installed in 2005. The Holocaust is, of course, where the pink triangle was first used to signify gay men. The award-winning play “Bent” about the suffering of gay men under the Nazis, premiere in London in 1979 and starred Ian McKellen. The play was inspired by one written and produced by Nottingham’s Gay Sweatshop, as explained here.
8) Clipstone Castle, also called King John’s Palace: Once a fortified hunting lodge of the medieval kings of England, now reduced to a few crumbling walls. LGBT Link: The queer King Edward II was a frequent visitor to Nottinghamshire. When he wasn’t staying at Nottingham Castle he was here as Clipstone Castle, most often for a few weeks during the autumn and winter months.
9) Newstead Abbey: A former Augustinian priory that surrendered its property to King Henry VIII at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Unlike other monastic establishments in Nottinghamshire, no sexual activities were recorded by the Dissolution agents. It was bought by the Byron family. LGBT Link: It is therefore somewhat ironic that Newstead was the home of one of the UK’s most famous “sexual celebrities”, the poet Lord Byron. He inherited the estate at the age of 10 but spent little time there. His celebrity status was indicated by the thousands of local people who lined the route of his funeral cortege from Nottingham to the nearby parish church of Hucknall.
10) Flintham Hall: A mansion has been on this site since the 1600s. It has been the home of the Hildyard family since 1789. The present hall was remodelled in the 1850s. LGBT Link: Until his death in 2005 the Hall was owned by Myles Hildyard, a Captain in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. He served in Crete, Palestine and North Africa in World War II. He was taken a Prisoner of War in 1941 but managed to escape. He was even involved in the planning of the D-Day Landings. Throughout his army career he was not afraid to take his male partners to official military dinners and events. After the war he returned to Flintham where he became a champion of conservation and local history. At Flintham, Myles lived with two male companions.
11) Eastwood: a typical small Nottinghamshire town that went from being largely agricultural to a hub of coal mining and industry in the 19th century. LGBT Link: Eastwood is the birthplace of the novelist D. H. Lawrence. His home is now a museum dedicated to him. While some may question Lawrence’s place in the lgbt community, I gave my reasons for including him in this article about the connection between his famous (and infamous) novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and Nottingham’s lgbt community. He once told a friends “I believe the nearest I’ve come to perfect love was with a coal-miner when I was about 16”.
12) Nottingham Castle: The castle made famous in the legends of Robin Hood, and about which I have written many times, having had the privilege of working there. While most of the original stone castle has gone, parts of the gatehouse, walls, tunnels and dry moat still survive. LGBT Link: Nottingham Castle has had three gay Constables (a sort of site manager appointed personally by the king). They are 1) Sir Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall; 2) Sir William Neville; and 3) Sir George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. All have been covered many times, so if you want to know more about one of them just type his name in the search box.
13) Granby: A small village that has expanded little since it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.LGBT Link: It is the Domesday Book which links Granby to lgbt heritage. The lord of the manor in 1086 was Sir Robert d’Oilly, who is what we now call a Norman Baron. He may have fought with King William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In many grants and documents of the time his name is partnered with Sir Roger d’Ivry, another Norman Baron and Constable of Leicester Castle as few miles away. Historians have recently begun to interpret them as being a same-sex couple.
14) Thrumpton Hall: A 17th Jacobean building. It was owned by the Byron family (but not by the famous poet, he had died beforehand) between 1832 and 1948. It was then inherited by the Seymour family. LGBT Link: Until his death in 1994 Thrumpton Hall was owned by George Seymour. He was a bit of a snob, always eager to point out that he was a descendant of King Charles II. Later in life he acquired a passion for motorbikes…. and young male bikers who were invited to live at Thrumpton, despite him being married with children. For 14 years Seymour was in a relationship with one biker in particular who sadly committed suicide. Seymour died of a broken heart soon afterwards.
15) Bunny Hall: Yes, there really is a place called Bunny. The Hall was originally Elizabethan and rebuilt in 1720. LGBT Link: Bunny Hall was owned by the Parykns family who held the title of Baron Rancliffe. The estate descended through the male line, so the 1st Baron’s daughter was passed over for her brother. However, her brother died without legitimate children so she became a coheir to her late father, but not to Bunny Hall. She married a French prince and was the mother of Prince Edmond de Polignac, a flamboyant and openly gay social climber and mediocre composer. His marriage to lesbian sewing machine heiress Winnaretta Singer fooled nobody. Everyone knew it was only to provide Winnaretta with a title and Prince Edmond with money.
And there you have it. Just a few of the sites of lgbt heritage in Nottinghamshire. The UK is smothered with such history and it is no surprise that there is too much for anyone to know about.
