A GRAND ABODE FOR A GRAND DECEPTION: THE SCAPEGOAT/KNEBWORTH HOUSE

The Scapegoat, a novel written by Daphne Du Maurier in 1957, concerns a man who one day by chance meets his double, an aristocrat beset with financial and family woes.  The aristocrat gets his new acquaintance drunk and persuades him to swap places, leading to an unfortunate chain of events as he meets the family and attempts to conceal the pretence.

The novel was set in France, and in 1959 a film adaptation was made, also set in France.  In 2012 a second film, starring Matthew Rhys as the two doubles, switched the action to Britain, starring Knebworth House as the aristocrat’s family home.  

Knebworth House - geograph.org.uk - 6582377. Photo by Jim Osley, via Wikimedia Commons.

Knebworth House dates from the 15th century, when Sir Robert Lytton, a close confidant of King Henry VII, purchased the Manor of Knebworth, which was probably a Saxon settlement previously, and set about building the original house.  Successive generations of Lyttons inherited the property.  In 1843 Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton transformed the property into the Tudor Gothic style which was fashionable at the time.  In more recent times the estate has got a name for itself as a concert venue, with such rock greats as Pink Floyd and Genesis playing there.

Knebworth House, which is located to the south-west of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, is open to the public on selected dates from March to September.  As well as the house and gardens, there is a Dinosaur Trail for the kids, and exhibitions on the Lyttons, filming locations and the concerts held there.

Map of the area.

LITERARY PUBS: THE BELL INN, MORETON-IN-MARSH

One recurring feature of Tolkien’s Hobbit tales is the tavern called The Prancing Pony in the fictional town of Bree.  The tavern forms part of an important scene in the first of the trilogy of Lord of the Rings films, being where Frodo and his friends first encounter Aragorn, who is sitting there in a hooded coat smoking a pipe.

While living in Oxford, Tolkien used to frequent the Cotswolds town Moreton-in-Marsh to meet up with his London-based brother. The brothers got together at the Bell Inn, a honey-coloured stone pub in the town’s main street, and this is believed to be the inspiration for the Prancing Pony.  A local branch of the Tolkien Society has had a blue plaque placed by the entrance to commemorate the pub’s connection to Tolkien and his work. The inn was a popular stopover for horse-drawn coaches in the days before the arrival of the railway, and the arched entrance used by the coaches matches the arch in Tolkien’s description of the inn.

Bell Inn Moreton in Marsh back in time. Photo by Ian Alexander, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of the area.