Quiet London: Carlyle’s House in Chelsea

The National Trust is well known for its array of large country house and estates, but perhaps less well known for its smaller properties in towns and cities like London.  And although I love the big houses, I also love to discover the less well discovered and tread the lesser trodden paths.

Carlyle House is a few step from The Thames along Cheyne Row in Chelsea, and was the home of the Victorian literary couple Thomas and Jane Carlyle.  Their house was frequented by the likes of Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Henry James, Robert Browning and John Ruskin and was salon for all things of a literary nature. I was especially interested to read of Carlyle’s link with William Morris, whose London house I enjoyed a visit to earlier this year.

Thomas and Jane Carlye

Thomas Carlyle was the literary heavyweight known for producing such great works as ‘History of Fredrick the Great’ and ‘The French Revolution: A History’.  He was a renowned social commentator and historian and hugely influential in shaping the ideas and thoughts of the great and good of his era.  In 1841, at a time when he saw the  need for a lending library in ‘the great metropolis of London’, he founded the London Library.  It went on to influence and become home to the likes of Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Harold Pinter.  Still standing today,it houses over a million books and is a tremendous legal to his vision.  All of these achievements are rightly celebrated within the walls of his former house in Chelsea.  Even if like me you could never imagine reading anything he has written, you can’t fail to be impressed by his influence, work ethic and the proliferation of published material Carlyle produced.

I was as fascinated by Thomas’s wife Jane as I was by him. She was clearly a driving force and a hugely clever and creative woman in her own right.  There is a beautiful decoupage screen in one of the rooms which she created, covered in photographs and pictures from magazines and photographs.  There is also a definite sense that Thomas drove her to distraction at times, and it would seem there was certainly a tumultuous side to their relationship. This is evidenced in the various stories and quotes around the home from Jane.  She was known to say “If you wish for a quiet life, never marry a dyspeptic man of genius”.

The House

All of the rooms are open from the kitchen at the bottom of the house to the room Carlyle had constructed on the top of the house from which to work.  Drawing rooms and dining rooms are filled with artefacts and evidence of the life lived here.  There is still something of the atmosphere I imagine existed when it was filled with writers and historians.  Because this house is so beautifully kept and untouched, were Thomas Carlyle to suddenly come bustling in through the front door, it would not seem surprising.  There are books and painting and ornaments, all of which give a sense of the life lived by the Carlyle’s in Victorian England.

The Garden

The Garden was said to be an oasis for Jane.  it is typical of gardens of these kinds of London houses.  Long and quite thin.  But it is beautifully secluded and private.  Jane is said to have grown and tended flowers whilst Thomas grew vegetables.  This is a tranquil little area and somewhere it would be quite easy to sit with a book and a cup of tea, secluded from the busy streets of the city just a short walk away. I like to imagine Jane grabbing a quiet moment here, sheltering from the hubbub  whilst noisy arguing about politics and literature continued inside.

On the Saturday morning we visited there were only a handful of other visitors and we ambled around the house and garden quietly and undisturbed.  Being so close to the river makes a calming wander along the Thames, stopping on route to look at the Impressive statue of Carlyle, a must.

Walking in the footsteps of literary greats or significant figures from history is always a thrill. Because this house is so beautifully kept and untouched, were Thomas Carlyle to suddenly come bustling in through the front door with bundle of papers and books under his arm, it would not seem surprising. Carlye’s house is another of London’s glorious hidden secrets.