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Smallhythe Place, Kent

Henry Irving and Ellen Terry were the golden couple of the stage towards the end of the ninteenth century. They were driving in Kent when they noticed an old farmhouse, which Ellen announced would be the place where she would like to live and die. Ellen bought Smallhythe Place in 1899, returning their whenever her career allowed, and died there on the 21st of July 1928.

I often write about the way places reflect the people who lived in them. The critic E.V. Lucas, after a visit to Smallhythe Place, wrote that the house was very like Ellen Terry:

"There was something of wildness in her nature, something wilful and untamed, something almost fey, which assorts well with this brave old house, with these rich beams, these windows giving on to the green valley, this isolation among fields. I thought, when I was there the other day in spring, that it was very like her; like her in its grace, like her in its independence and Englishness, like her in the sunshine that irradiated it, and in the gaiety of its yellow wallflowers."

Ellen Terry was born in Coventry on 1847. Her theatrical parents were working in a business which had not really recovered from the suppression of theatre in the seventeenth century. Only two London theatres, Covant Garden and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, were licensed for serious plays. In the provinces the law was less strictly enforced, but most theatres made precarious livings by relying on burlesque and farce. Ellen Terry never went to school. Theatre shaped her. Fortunately she was growing up at a time when theatre was finding new freedoms. The law restricting most theatres from putting on serious plays was repealed in 1843, and as she grew up she was given ever larger parts. At sixteen she was starring in a French comedy at the Haymarket, and was becoming famous. Ellen Terry is then a symbol, and product, of the long awaited recovery of theatre in Britain. The famous actresses of today can follow their pedigree back, originally to the actresses who began working in theatres at the Restoration in 1660, and to Ellen Terry, the first star of the new theatre which came into being after 1843.

The house itself is early sixteenth century.

Smallhythe Place has been restored to its appearance when Ellen lived there. Many of her costumes and possessions are on display. The Barn Theatre stages talks and theatrical events. See the National Trust website below for more details.

Opening Times: Smallhythe Place is open from the 15th of March until the 26th of October 2008, Saturday to Wednesday, 11am - 5pm. Last admission 4.30pm.

Directions: Follow the B2082 two miles south of Tenterden. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Smallhythe Place.

Access: this is not an easy property for those with mobilty problems. There is a ramp to the front door, but there are steps throughout the house. A photograph album tour is available. There are Braille and large print guides. There is an induction loop available for shows in the Barn Theatre.

Contact:

telephone: 01580 762334

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-smallhytheplace.htm