ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

  Benham Park. in Berkshire, the former home of Elizabeth Craven, was the venue for a book launch event held last week to mark the appearance of a new literary biography of the late Georgian poet and playwright, Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European. The author, Julia Gasper, signed copies of the book and gave a short talk about Elizabeth Craven and her links to Benham, where she lived, wrote, welcomed many famous guests and staged some of her own plays as well as other theatrical performances.  Craven was not just bold and adventurous in her travels, but also in her opinions, which were in some ways far ahead of her time. The event was held by kind permission of the present owner, Mr Michael Fresson, who has meticulously restored the once-neglected mansion to its former beauty and splendour. Benham was designed by the distinguished architect Henry Holland, and its grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The grounds still contain a Greek theatre built...

As you are passing through Berkshire on the London to Bath road, you may notice this rather imposing gateway. It is the entrance to Benham Place, sometimes called Benham Park,  an elegant Georgian mansion.   You might think that this gateway, with its double entrance lodges, is a little grand even for an aristocratic mansion. The archways suggest guardposts, as if it were a royal residence, and in fact the house was at once time exactly that. The royal associations of Benham go back a long way. In 1086, the Domesday Book mentions Beneham as a manor in Berkshire held by one Wigar, who is "the King's thane". This meant that he was a noble with special privileges. Only the King had jurisdiction over him.  In 1251, the manor was given by King Henry III to his young half-brother  William de Valence, hence it became known as Benham Valence. Tomb of William de Valence in Westminster Abbey In 1548, the manor was given by Henry VIII   to Sir Walter ...