Clouds Hill
| Clouds Hill | |
|
National Trust | |
|---|---|
 Clouds Hill | |
| Grid reference: | SY82369096 |
| Location: | 50°43’5"N, 2°15’4"W |
| Built 19th century | |
| Information | |
| Website: | Clouds Hill |
Clouds Hill is an isolated cottage near Wareham in Dorset. In the 1920s and 1930s, the cottage was home to T. E. Lawrence; the famous Lawrence of Arabia. It is now run as a writer's home museum by the National Trust.
The site is in the parish of Turners Puddle.
History
Many a returning conqueror from the Great War received rewards aplenty and built grand houses, but Lawrence took a humble cottage. This is a small house, with colourwashed brick walls and a tiled roof. It was probably built as forester's cottage in the early 19th century. The lintel over the door now bears a Greek inscription from Hippocleides: οὐ φροντὶς ("Why Worry").
The cottage is now a Grade II* listed building as "Clouds Hill (Lawrence of Arabia's Cottage)".[1]
Lawrence first rented the cottage in 1923 while stationed at nearby Bovington Camp with the Tank Corps.[2][3] He made it habitable with the help of a friend, then bought it in 1925 and used it as a holiday home.[2]
Lawrence described Clouds Hill as an earthly paradise[2] and wrote "Nothing in Clouds Hill is to be a care upon the world. While I have it there shall be nothing exquisite or unique in it. Nothing to anchor me." The cottage had no electric lights and three living rooms, described as an eating room, book room and music room. For heat insulation Lawrence had the eating room lined with asbestos that was covered in aluminium foil, and he kept his food under glass domes. In the book room he installed a large leather divan, and in the music room above it he had his gramophone "with a huge amplifier horn", a leather sofa and chair.[2]
In 1935 Lawrence left the Royal Air Force and lived at Clouds Hill. A few weeks later, at the age of 46, he suffered severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident close to the cottage, and died in the Bovington Camp hospital on 19 May 1935. The following year, his heir, his brother A. W. Lawrence, gave Clouds Hill to the National Trust. It is now a museum, dedicated to Lawrence. It is open to visitors from March to the beginning of October, seven days a week, from 11am to 5pm.
The cottage remains largely as Lawrence left it at his death. It features an exhibition detailing Lawrence's life, and most of his original furniture and possessions. The cottage reflects his complex personality and links to Arabia.
The Lawrence of Arabia Trail
The circular Lawrence of Arabia Trail starts and finishes at Bovington's The Tank Museum, taking in Clouds Hill and the churchyard of St Nicholas' Church in Moreton, Lawrence's final resting place.[4]
Sleeping bags
Lawrence reserved a sleeping bag for visitors who stayed overnight. His own sleeping bag was marked meum ('mine' in Latin) and the bag for a guest, tuum ('yours'). In 1965 the visitor's bag was stolen. Its disappearance coincided with the release of the film Lawrence of Arabia and it was thought the theft could have been inspired by the publicity generated by the film. The sleeping bag was returned anonymously in 2001.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Clouds Hill) |
- Clouds Hill information at the National Trust
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1120423: Clouds Hill (Lawrence of Arabia's Cottage) (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Hyams, John (1970). Dorset. B. T. Batsford Ltd. pp. 68-9. ISBN 0-7134-0066-8.
- ↑ Gant, Roland (1980). Dorset Villages. Robert Hale Ltd. p. 194. ISBN 0-7091-8135-3.
- ↑ Lawrence of Arabia Trail