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When I had the privilege to edit the unexpurgated version of Henry “Chips” Channon’s diaries, I was struck by the frequency with which, in the 1920s and 1930s, he could be found at Trent Park, a “palace” on the outskirts of London owned by his fellow Conservative MP, the exotic baronet Sir Philip Sassoon. Sassoon inherited the 42-room pile, located a few minutes from Cockfosters underground station, disliked its ugly Victorian aspects, and spent much of his considerable fortune having it rebuilt to resemble the finest Georgian country house and redecorated to reflect his exquisite taste.
Channon was just one of many high-society figures who frequented the house, then in rural Middlesex (though already being swallowed up by suburbia), but now just south of the M25 in the London borough of Enfield. Greater London has many fine houses, quite a few open to the public, but Trent Park – which, a decade ago, was in danger of falling into ruin – is unusual. Although close to central London, the house stands in extensive and beautifully landscaped parkland. Thanks largely to voluntary efforts and philanthropy, under the guidance of the Trent Park Museum Trust, it has just opened to the public for the first time, as Trent Park House of Secrets.
That name is justified by Trent Park’s remarkable history. Sassoon entertained royalty there: the late Queen and her sister, Princess Margaret, visited as children with their parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Their grandmother, Queen Mary, and their uncles, one of whom was briefly King Edward VIII, and another who was the Duke of Kent, were regulars. As well as royalty, Charlie Chaplin, probably the most famous man on the planet at the time, stayed regularly. Fred Astaire and Lawrence of Arabia, and leading politicians such as Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, also passed through its doors.
Sassoon was a prominent figure in aviation and a huge flying enthusiast; he bought his first plane in 1919, but did not qualify as a pilot until 1931. He kept a light aircraft at Trent (the grounds had room for a landing strip) and would treat guests to flights around the local area. The Duke of Kent and his wife, Princess Marina, particularly enjoyed the experience, though in that case the pilot was Sassoon’s private flying instructor.
There has been a grand house at Trent since Tudor times, but the present building’s origins date back to the 1770s, passing through the ownership of several families before reaching the Sassoons. Today, Sir Philip’s gardens and fine lake (some 300 years old) have largely survived, along with much of the statuary he collected. That survival, like that of the house, is remarkable.
Trent was requisitioned early in the Second World War, months after Sassoon’s death in 1939, having been inherited by his sister, Hannah Gubbay. She was unceremoniously evicted (ending up in a villa at Cockfosters) while the house was used for top-secret intelligence purposes. Its interior was divided into cubicles to hold German officers who had been taken prisoner. They were conventionally interrogated, but Post Office engineers also installed state-of-the-art listening devices to capture conversations between prisoners when they believed they were unobserved. One listener-in was Brin Newton-John, father of the future Grease actress Olivia, and a brilliant linguist and Germanophile. The new museum recreates some of these wartime scenes.
Later in the war, when the Allies were planning and undertaking the invasion of Europe, Trent housed as many as 84 German generals who, as well as being eavesdropped upon, were softened up by a preposterous figure called “Lord Aberfeldy”. Ostensibly on hand to ensure the generals’ welfare, he claimed to be a senior British officer and a relation of the King who had been badly wounded in the war, but was in fact a one-legged Scottish actor giving the most brilliant performance of his life to persuade the soldiers to let down their guard. It seems the Germans were flattered to be looked after by such a high-status figure and duly relaxed in his company. During his conversations with Lord Aberfeldy, one general, Ludwig Crüwell, spilt secrets about the V1 rockets; another, Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, was overheard discussing the V2 programme.
After the war, Trent became a teacher training college and then part of Middlesex Polytechnic, suffering relentless wear and tear. Gubbay returned to a house in the grounds and, following her death in 1968, left her superb collection of art treasures to the National Trust to be stored in a suitable space. Sadly that space was Clandon Park. When it was ravaged by a fire in 2015, most of its contents were destroyed and the house’s unrestored shell remains a blight on the reputation of the National Trust.
Happily, in 2014 a group was formed to rescue Trent and put it to good use. A developer turned the upper floors into private apartments; Enfield Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with private philanthropists, raised funds to restore the rest.
Sassoon’s dining room is now the museum entrance and shop; his drawing room and saloon have been recreated as exactly as possible, either with objects on loan from Houghton Hall in Norfolk, where many ended up, or with exact copies of works of art (notably by Johan Zoffany) that have since been lost or are now in different ownership.
Also restored are murals by Rex Whistler in the library, drawing room and the room that now serves as the café. Given that Tate refuses to reopen the restaurant containing Whistler’s fabulous mural at Tate Britain, it is cheering to see Trent Park celebrating him.
Indeed, it is good news all round to see Trent Park saved for the nation, and telling the fascinating stories of social, political and military history to which it bore witness nearly a century ago.
Trent Park House of Secrets, London EN4, is now open
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