With 1700 recordings of radio programmes, oral history interviews, and field recordings, how many stories lie waiting to be uncovered in the National Trust Sound Collection? In May and June 2023 I carried out an access and copyright audit on the National Trust collection held by the British Library. Although I was in search of signed agreements, I was gripped by the stories, the lived experiences, the contradictory emotions and opinions that are held in this collection. They tell the tales of one of the biggest charities in the country and of the country itself.
The most prominent story in the collection originates from a watershed moment in 1946, when institutions could finance the purchase of important cultural property for the nation through the National Land Fund. The National Trust in particular benefited from the scheme, which allowed the handing over of keys and grounds to the Trust instead of paying estate duty. The effects of the National Trust’s ever-expanding portfolio is covered in a song I came across performed on BBC Radio Four by Kit and the Widow in 1992. “Oh, the National Trust” is a satirical song from the perspective of two volunteers, who sing the tale of a Dowager Duchess of a nameless country house going mad as her home is flooded by National Trust visitors. Eventually the Dowager is sold at Christie’s after her harassment of the visitors becomes too much to bare and she needs to be removed from the property. The song ends with the Dowager’s revenge: she returns as a ghost to haunt her former home and the National Trust. The song neatly covers the stereotypes of the National Trust: the displeased landowner, the busy National Trust volunteers selling tea towels and Beatrice Potter books, and of course, a ghost, the natural partner of any self-respecting country house.
This turbulent period of transition from private ownership to a Trust property is both confirmed and challenged by the contents of other recordings. I found a local resident recalling being chased off a public footpath by an angry landowner, mirroring the Dowager Duchess’ antics. Then there is a former estate owner praising the National Trust taking over their houses because by the mid twentieth century: “the houses were falling down all around the place, nobody could see the future.” What prompted – or forced – owners to give up their home is not always covered in great depth: some interviewees mention death duties as the primary reason to offer their property to the National Trust; a desire to preserve ‘our country’s heritage’ crops up occasionally but seems less of a driver.
Kit and the Widow’s song does not mention an important personal consequence of the transition from private to public ownership: how does the change affect the many people employed on the estates? A significant portion of the interviews in the collection are with people who were former maids, gardeners, butlers, cook, valets, housekeepers etc. The collection therefore captures two elements of the transition story: how the land went from private to public property and how this signified the end of a particular ‘upstairs/downstairs’ system of employment.
Among the more ‘Downton Abbey’ tales in the collection there are interviews which record the role of many stately homes during the two world wars. There are interviews with those immediately affected: evacuees, prisoners of war, the land army, the home guard. Many other recordings reference the period. The government requisition of country houses during the wars is an important chapter in the history the nation’s country estates. Although the importance of this is often acknowledged, there is also a lamentation of the state in which the houses were often left. A gentleman points outs to an interviewer that the priceless wooden panelling is littered with holes, caused by the Land Army workers having their dart board there. The stately homes during this period were neither the grand houses of the wealthy owners nor the tourist attractions they are today: reduced to their basic structures, they functioned as prisons, barracks, and army training camps, where work and play all happened under one roof. Sadly, there are significantly fewer recordings with those directly involved in this period and why this is, remains unknown.
The collection shows how the role of the stately home and grand estate changed over the years but it is not just about people, communities, and social structures. The Director General at the time points out during a radio interview to commemorate the centenary of the National Trust in 1995 that the Trust is not just a ‘keeper of country house’, it actually spends most of its conservation effort on the landscape. Indeed, the National Trust is one of the biggest landowners in the country. They are responsible for landscape from the White Cliffs of Dover to the landscape around Stonehenge (although Stonehenge itself is English Heritage). The collection tells us clearly how our attitude to the land has evolved and how nature has changed as a result of human activity. A speaker recalls seeing the Northern Lights in the Clent Hills in the 1930s before light pollution drowned out the stars. Similarly, the relationship between farming and nature conservation is prominently present in the many interviews with farmers and recordings of Trust staff discussing their policies around farming and conservation. Deer hunting crops up time and again, which in the 1990s was still permitted. Folklore plays a prominent part too; the relationship between the land and tales of ancient witchcraft are plentiful. Yet, in spite of the Director General’s wish to turn the focus away from the National Trust as keepers of country houses, there are distinctly fewer recordings connected to the landscape than there are to country houses.
The National Trust stereotype of the Kit and the Widow song is undeniably a prominent part of the collection. However, when one considers this second biggest oral history collection in the British Library, it is difficult not to be impressed by the sheer scale of the institution. The National Trust is one of the biggest landowners and charities in the UK; the number of stories and histories which come under its care are innumerable. And these are exciting and often fundamentally conflicting stories: there is no single story of the National Trust. Recounting the history and significance of the Trust is always a balancing act in which the many layers of history kept by and embodied in the estates needs to be told from different perspectives. A conflict of interest and a struggle for prominence is present in the current collection, but certain questions that are in the public eye today are notably absent. Nobody asks where the money came from, for example. The colonial pasts of these properties appear absent although it would be an interesting research project to comb the archived recordings for references to colonial ties. And so, let me finish with another few suggestions of stories that could be told or investigated in this collection of cassette tapes and WAV files.
There are few recordings post-2000 so there is little discussion or mention of climate change and the effects it is having on the land, the housing and the Trust’s conservation efforts. Yet, is there evidence of changing nature? The stories and experiences of the National Trust volunteers, the corner stone of the National Trust’s work, are not prominent in the wider collection, but notably start appearing in the more recent recordings. Fundraising efforts is another topic that could be traced, for example, the owners throwing ‘medieval banquets’ as a way of making money. Seaton Delaval Hall, the National Trust property in the North East that I investigate as part of my PhD thesis, was well-known for their themed parties and banquets and many visitors to the property reminisce about the ‘wild nights’. Finally, the many interviews with gardeners and landscape architects are begging to be brought together to create a history of the Trust through gardens. After all, the National Trust tops the European charts for the number of gardens under its wings.
Clips
| Number | Content | Copyright |
| Recordings referenced in the blog post | ||
| C1168/648 | The song “Oh The National Trust” by Kit and the Widow | BBC Radio 4 |
| C1168/144 | Local resident talking about being chase off a public path by the Duchess of Wimpole Estate | No copyright |
| C1168/1605 | Someone talking about Clent Hills | No copyright |
| C1168/618 | Duke of Grafton talking about the National Trust saving the crumble country houses | No copyright (But was NT staff) |
| C1168/1001 | Land army girl at Sutton Hoo | Copyright |
| C1168/526 | NT Director General talking about the Centenary | BBC |
| C1168/819 | NT Director General talking about deer hunting | BBC Radio 2 |
| Recordings that have copyright and might be good for the blog post | ||
| C1168/621 | Coventry, 11th Lord (Family of property owner (before donation to National Trust)) | Copyright |
| C1168/849 | Cocking, Mary (Between Maid) | Copyright |
| C1168/914 | Drane, Jim (AWRE Technician) | Copyright |
| C1168/1108 | Evacuees | Copyright |
Possible Photos
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Trust_Sign_271.JPG
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