The Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference

The Dartington Hall estate has a long history stretching back to before the 11th century Domesday Book. It is listed in the Domesday Book as belonging to a Saxon woman. After the Norman conquest it belonged to the Martin family and then to the ill-fated John Holland, Duke of Exeter and Earl of Huntingdon and brother to King Richard II who was beheaded in 1400. Pevsner describes the 14th century courtyard and Great Hall as ‘one of the most spectacular surviving domestic buildings of late Medieval England’. The medieval deer park has been restored and provides delightful walks. For many generations, the estate belonged to the Champernowne family and they are commemorated in a sculpture in the church tower. The yews in the churchyard are 2,000 years old. At the beginning of the 20th century, the estate was near-derelict when it was bought by the progressive American heiress, Dorothy Elmhirst and her husband, Leonard. Leonard was interested in rural regeneration and had worked with Rabindranath Tagore. the Elmhirst restored the Great Hall and the garden and commissioned a number of important modernist buildings, including High Cross House. The spectacular listed garden is more tree garden than flower garden. Find out more about Dartington’s history and its archive.