Task 47: Visit Lamb House in Rye

About 20 years ago, Peter and I used to celebrate the New Year by spending a few days at a hotel near Rye, where they had a lively jazz band and an excellent reviving brunch to start the year on a high note. It was pleasant wandering around the lovely old town, though a bit frustrating never being able to visit Lamb House, the former home of Henry James, as it wasn't open in the winter. Last year, for no obvious reason, I ended up reading 4 biographies of Henry James. Although I don't particularly like either his writing or his personality, he's an interesting character and I decided that putting the visit on my list of challenges would provide the incentive I needed. We therefore rented an apartment in Rye for a few days last week and took the first opportunity to visit his home.

The house was built in 1722 by James Lamb, a wealthy wine merchant and local politician, and has a particularly imposing front door. It's nine feet high and the key is so large that when Henry James was living there, he had the huge door knocker adjusted so that when twisted sideways, it would release the latch and enable him to get back in without having to carry the key with him:

One night in the winter of 1726 King George I's ship was washed up on the nearby Camber Sands and he spent the next few days at the house, which was deemed the most appropriate in Rye. James Lamb naturally gave up his bed to the king, which was all very well except that his wife was about to go into labour. She gave birth during the night to a boy, and the couple had the sense to name him George and ask the king to be godfather. He could hardly refuse and, as expected, gave a handsome christening present of a large silver bowl.

A detached garden room, with a large bay window overlooking the cobbled street, was added - originally as a banqueting room - in 1743. During the summer months it was used by Henry James - and later by E F Benson, when he lived there between 1919 and 1940 - as his favourite room for writing, and it was there that he produced The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl. Unfortunately it was destroyed by a German bomb in 1940.

Henry James came across the house by chance while he was visiting an architect friend in the area. He was enchanted by it and was delighted when he was able first to rent it and then, in 1899, to buy it. He retained his apartment in London and spent the winters there, but for most of the rest of the year he lived in Lamb House, entertaining a wide range of literary friends including H G Wells, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, G K Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Ford Madox Ford, Compton Mackenzie and Max Beerbohm. He died in London in February 1916 and the house was given to the National Trust by his nephew's widow in 1950.

Portrait of Henry James by John Singer Sargent, 1913 (copy)

Only part of the ground floor and the garden - the largest in Rye - are open to the public, so there is a limited amount to see, but there are a number of his personal possessions including his pocket watch (given to him by his older brother William), walking sticks, portable bookcase, card table and a corner bookcase designed specifically for him:

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Perhaps the most interesting exhibit is a proof edition of The American, originally published in 1877 and substantially re-worked by Henry James for the 1907 New York version, which shows how heavily he revised it:

The house is pleasantly mellow, with well-proportioned rooms, but even more attractive is the garden. When he first moved to Rye, Henry James knew almost nothing about gardening and had no idea what to do with it. Gradually he developed a keen interest in it, seeking advice from friends and creating a really lovely space, made more easily accessible by the french windows that he added in the dining room:

One of his friends was the novelist E F Benson - author of the Mapp and Lucia books, amongst many others - who came to Rye as his guest in 1900. After James' death in 1916, Benson became a part-time tenant at Lamb House in 1917 and took on the lease two years later, living there until his death in 1940. Although he died in London, he is buried in St Mary's in Rye. 

The two novelists could hardly be more different in style. Although I enjoyed reading The Portrait of a Lady and didn't find the extremely long sentences and dense prose particularly off-putting, as the characterisation was so strong, it isn't a book I would warm to. By contrast, Miss Mapp (my favourite of the Mapp and Lucia series) is witty, amusing and lighthearted, though also rich in psychological insight. Lamb House - named Mallards in Benson's novels - is where much of the activity takes place and the recent television adaptation was filmed there.

Benson's Rye reminds me very much of Ham, with its quirky characters, eccentricities and village atmosphere - and the lightning speed at which news travels. Not much stays secret for long and, like Consequences, the story tends to change as it goes along. Both are wonderful places and probably, as with Ham, hardly anyone who lives there ever wants to leave.