Dial House is a farm cottage situated in south-west Essex, England that has been a self-sustaining

anarcho-pacifist Anarcho-pacifism, also referred to as anarchist pacifism and pacifist anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that advocates for the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Anarcho-pacifism rejects ...

open house since 1967. The house is located in the countryside of Epping Forest in

Ongar Great Park Ongar may refer to: Essex, England *Ongar, Essex, a civil parish *Chipping Ongar, a town **Ongar railway station, a former London Underground station *Hundred of Ongar, an ancient administrative unit *High Ongar, a village in Essex Other uses *Ong ...

. It has been used as a base for a number of cultural, artistic, and political projects ranging from avant-garde jazz events to helping found the free festival movement. Perhaps the best-known manifestation of the public face of Dial House was the anarcho-punk band Crass. Following the DIY punk ethic, Crass combined the use of song, film, sound collage and graphics to launch a critical polemic against a mainstream which they considered to be built on foundations of war, religion, and consumerism.

History

Early history

Dial House, a large rambling farm cottage, was built in the 16th century.

Oliver Rackham Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books incl ...

describes Ongar Great Park as possibly having been the "prototype deer park", mentioned in an "

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

will of 1045".Rackham, Oliver; ''Woodlands'', Collins, 2006, During the Victorian era, Dial House was the home of the writer Primrose McConnell, a tenant farmer and the author of '' The Agricultural Notebook'' (1883), which is recognised as a standard reference work for the European farming industry. By 1967 Dial House stood derelict, its acre of garden a bramble-smothered wilderness. Dial House is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the National Heritage List for England.

References

External links

'Dial House under threat'
{{coord, 51.7122, 0.1893, type:landmark_region:GB-ESS, display=title Crass Houses in Essex Social centres in the United Kingdom Intentional communities in the United Kingdom Legalized squats Squats in the United Kingdom Epping Forest District Grade II listed houses Grade II listed buildings in Essex