Clouds Hill is an isolated early 19th-century cottage near
Wareham in the county of
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
. It is the former home of
T. E. Lawrence. The cottage is a
Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
and is owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
.
History
The small building has colourwashed brick walls and a tiled roof. It was probably built as a forester's or labourer's
cottage
A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...
in 1808 but was largely reconstructed in 1922-34 by
T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") for himself. The lintel over the door bears a Greek inscription ("why worry"). The site was in the parish of
Turners Puddle in
Purbeck District. As "Clouds Hill (Lawrence of Arabia's Cottage)", it is now a
Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
; it was upgraded from Grade II in 2015.
Lawrence first rented the cottage in 1923 while stationed at nearby
Bovington Camp with the
Tank Corps.
He made it habitable with the help of a friend, then bought it in 1925 and used it as a holiday home.
[ He described it as an earthly paradise][ 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
Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...
that was covered in aluminium foil, and he kept his food under bell jar
A bell jar is a glass jar, similar in shape to a bell (instrument), bell (i.e. in its best-known form it is open at the bottom, while its top and sides together are a single piece), and can be manufactured from a variety of materials (ranging fr ...
s; a ship’s porthole, from the broken-up HMS ''Tiger'', was installed in 1935. In the book room he installed a large leather divan
A divan or diwan (, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan'').
Etymology
The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental cou ...
, and in the music room above it he had his gramophone "with a huge amplifier horn", a leather sofa and chair.[ In a 1934 letter to Francis Rodd, Lawrence (who had changed his surname to Shaw) described his home thus:
]"The cottage has two rooms, one, upstairs, for music (a gramophone and records) and one downstairs for books. There is a bath in a demi-cupboard. For food one goes a mile, to Bovington (near the Tank Corps Depot) and at sleep time I take a great sleeping bag... and spread it on what seems the nicest floor... The cottage looks simple outside, and does no hurt to its setting which is twenty miles of broken heath and a river valley filled with rhododendrons run wild. I think everything, inside and outside my place, approaches perfection... Yours ever, T. E. Shaw"
In 1935 Lawrence left the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
and lived at Clouds Hill. A few weeks later, at the age of 46, he suffered 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.
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 the Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. In it is displayed a painting by Henry Scott Tuke of a soldier cadet, possibly Lawrence, at Newporth Beach.
The circular Lawrence of Arabia Trail starts and finishes at Bovington's The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum (previously the Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collectio ...
, taking in Clouds Hill and the churchyard of St Nicholas' Church in Moreton, where Lawrence is buried.
Sleeping bags
Lawrence reserved a sleeping bag
A sleeping bag is an insulated covering for a person, essentially a lightweight quilt that can be closed with a zipper or similar means to form a tube, which functions as lightweight, portable bedding in situations where a person is sleeping o ...
for visitors who stayed overnight. His own sleeping bag was marked ''meum'' ('mine' in Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
) and the bag for a guest, ''tuum'' ('yours'). According to Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence's biographer, ''tuum''s occupants included George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...
, E. M. Forster and Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...
. 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. In 2001, the sleeping bag was returned anonymously from Belgium.
Gallery
The Music Room, Clouds Hill.jpg, The Music Room
The Bunk Rom, Clouds Hill.jpg, The Bunk Room
CloudsHill2.jpg, The thatched garage of Clouds Hill, built in 1930, containing an exhibition on the life of Lawrence
Henry Scott Tuke - T. E. Lawrence as a cadet at Newporth Beach, near Falmouth.jpg, Henry Scott Tuke "A Soldier (possibly T. E. Lawrence) at Newporth Beach, near Falmouth" (between 1921 and 1922)
See also
* Writer's home
Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...
References
External links
{{Commons category, Clouds Hill
Clouds Hill information at the National Trust
Biographical museums in Dorset
Cottages in Dorset
Grade II* listed buildings in Dorset
Grade II* listed houses
Historic house museums in Dorset
Literary museums in England
National Trust properties in Dorset
T. E. Lawrence