Burnt Norton is a manor house in Aston-sub-Edge, near

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...

, Gloucestershire, best known for being the inspiration for T. S. Eliot's poem of the same name.

History

Sir William Keyt, 3rd Baronet Sir William Keyt, 3rd Baronet (8 July 1688 –1741) of Norton House, Gloucestershire, was a British landowner and politician who sat in the British House of Commons, House of Commons from 1722 to 1735. He died at his house in a catastrophic fire of ...

, Member of Parliament for

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

between 1722 and 1735, was married to the Hon. Anne née Tracy. Keyt left his wife in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

while he went to live with her maid on his

Cotswold The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jura ...

estate, where he spent much of his fortune in extending and improving his mansion. He notably added two large side extensions to it after his

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

, upon viewing the house, asked "what is a kite without wings." In time the mistress deserted him, and he began drinking heavily. One night in September 1741 he caused a fire which spread to the whole house. Unsuccessful attempts were made to rescue him and little was left of him to be buried at the church of

Aston-sub-Edge Aston Subedge (also written Aston-sub-Edge) is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, close by the border with Worcestershire (to the west). According to the 2001 census the population was 55, increasing ...

. It was said he was deranged and set the fire deliberately. It was also proposed that he started the fire after a bout of heavy drinking. In 1753 the property was bought by Sir Dudley Ryder, Lord Harrowby's ancestor and has remained in the family ever since. The house was rebuilt and renamed Burnt Norton. During the Second World War, Burnt Norton was occupied as a girls' boarding school by Tudor Hall school and, after the war, it was used as a school for boys from inner cities. In 1998, after lying empty for 30 years, Burnt Norton was restored as a family home.

In popular culture

The estate became known as Burnt Norton and the garden remained as an attraction. It was after visiting the garden with his friend and suspected lover

Emily Hale Emily Hale (27 October 1891 – 12 October 1969) was an American speech and drama teacher, who was the longtime muse and confidante of the poet T. S. Eliot. Exactly 1,131 letters from Eliot to Hale were deposited in Princeton University Libra ...

that T. S. Eliot wrote ''

Burnt Norton ''Burnt Norton'' is the first poem of T. S. Eliot's ''Four Quartets''. He created it while working on his play '' Murder in the Cathedral'', and it was first published in his ''Collected Poems 1909–1935'' (1936). The poem's title refers to ...

'', the first of his ''

Four Quartets ''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a f ...

''. The story of Keyt and Norton House was the subject of a 2014 novel: ''Burnt Norton'' by Caroline Sandon, a pen-name of the present occupier, the Countess of Harrowby.

References

{{reflist Cotswolds 1741 in England Building and structure fires in England Buildings and structures completed in the 18th century Manor houses in England