THE REAL MANDERLEY: MENABILLY, CORNWALL

I read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca for the first time recently during lockdown.  It made such an impression that I went searching for the film version starring Sir Laurence Olivier (as husband Maxim de Winter) and Joan Fontaine (as the narrator known only as the new Mrs de Winter – her first name is never revealed) and watched that for good measure.  I must say I have never come across a story quite like it.  A story of marrying into money, trying to live up to the late former lady of the house (the Rebecca of the title) in the face of a hostile army of servants, the sheer oppressiveness of living in a big house with said servants lurking on every corner, dark secrets from the past and a tragic, explosive ending. 

The bulk of the story is concentrated in the house and grounds known as Manderley in the story, on the Cornish coast.  The inspiration for Manderley was a property called Menabilly about 2 miles west of Fowey on Cornwall’s south coast.  Du Maurier was born in London, but she spent much of her life in Cornwall, and she became fascinated with the Menabilly estate, which had belonged to an influential local family called the Rashleighs since the 16^th century. 

                                       

                                                                         Menabilly, c. 1820

By the time Daphne discovered the house, it had fallen into disrepair, and Daphne used to sneak into the grounds, dreaming of being able to live there and restore the property.  In fact in 1943, following the success of Rebecca the book and the film, she managed to persuade the Rashleighs to let her and her family live there as tenants.  They stayed for 26 years until the tenancy ended in 1969, during which time she worked hard at the restoration work.  She then moved to nearby Kilmarth in Tywardreath near Par, but the memory of Menabilly no doubt lingered on, just as it did for the heroine of Rebecca, evident from the unforgettable opening line of the story: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”.

One place which features heavily in the story is a cove at the edge of the Manderley estate.  This is where Rebecca would retreat to a cottage on the beach, and where the new Mrs De Winter encounters a local simpleton called Ben.  It is also where a ship goes aground, leading to a grisly discovery revealing dark secrets from the past.  There is a cove on the coastline which forms part of the Menabilly estate called Polridmouth Cove, which was the inspiration for the cove in the story. 

                              

Approaching Polridmouth - geograph.org.uk - 1239664. Photo by Derek Harper, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fans of Rebecca who want to visit Menabilly will be disappointed, because the property is privately owned, still belonging to the Rashleigh family, and not open to visitors.  However, there are a couple of holiday lets on the wider estate.  Kilmarth is also privately owned.

Map of the area.