Virginia Woolf and Monk's House, Rodmell, East Sussex

In 1919 Virginia and Leonard Woolf bought an 'old fashioned' (for which by today's standards read unbearably basic with no bath, flush toilet, hot water, etc) for £700. It became their retreat from London, which they would make many improvements to, and where they would spend their remaining years.

All the above shots are of the sitting room. The table immediately above is 'Venus at her toilet', by the artist Duncan Grant.

This table top too is by Duncan Grant, along with Vanessa Bell, Virginia's sister.

The fire screen is also by Duncan Grant, with his mother Mrs Bartle Grant doing the canvas work as she was experienced in needlecraft.

An oblique view of the dining room, with chairs by Vanessa and Duncan, and the painting on the right being of Virginia, which Vanessa painted in about 1912.

Out of view here, over the mantel-piece is a primitive painting of the Glazebrook family, millers who used to own the house in the nineteenth century.

The entrance door between the sitting room and the dining room.

The kitchen was subject to flooding.

The extension, Virginia's room of her own, her bedroom.

The fireplace, with tiles by Vanessa Bell, one (on the floor) reading 'VW from VB 1930'.

In the garden, C. H. N. Mommen's Goliath.

'BENEATH THIS TREE ARE

BURIED THE ASHES OF

VIRGINIA WOOLF

Born January 25 1882

Died March 28 1941.

Death is the enemy. Against you

I will fling myself, unvanquished

and unyielding – O Death!

The waves broke on the shore.'

The quotation was chosen by Leonard from Virginia's novel The Waves.

'LEONARD WOOLF

Born November 25 1880

Died August 14 1969

"I believe profoundly in two rules:

Justice and mercy – They seem to

me the foundation of all civilized

life and society, if you include

under mercy, toleration".'

'The ashes of LEONARD and VIRGINIA WOOLF,

who lived in this house from 1919 until their deaths,

were scattered under the great elm tree.

In 1972 the plaque in Virginia's memory, which

Leonard had placed there, was moved

from the elm to this more permanent position. At the

same time the bust of Leonard Woolf and the

plaque in his memory were placed here.

The head of Virginia was modelled by

Stephen Tomlin and placed on this wall by

Leonard. That of Leonard was modelled

by Charlotte Hewer and placed here

together with these plaques by Trekkie Parsons.'

Virginia Woolf in Richmond and Bloomsbury: London #18

 

Hogarth House, Richmond: T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land was published here in 1922, in the same year Sylvia Beach published Joyce's Ulysses.

 

'In this house

LEONARD and

VIRGINIA WOOLF

lived

1915–1924

and founded the

Hogarth Press

1917'

 

'VIRGINIA WOOLF

1882–1941'

 

'Virginia Woolf

lived in a house formerly on the south side of

Tavistock Square from 1924 to 1939 where most of her

greatest novels were written and published.

 

"Then one day walking around Tavistock Square I made up,

as I sometimes make up my books, To the Lighthouse; in

a great, apparently involuntary, rush."

 

This memorial was erected by the

Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain

26th June 2004'.

Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and Roger Fry at Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia: Literary London #9

Two plaques are attached to 29 Fitzroy Square, the upper one with the following information:

'George Bernard Shaw lived in this house from 1887 to 1898.

From the coffers of his genius he enriched the world.'

The last sentence is what Shaw's housekeeper, Mrs Laden, wrote on a note that she attached to his gate to announce his death.

While Shaw lived here, along with his unsuccessful novels, he published his early plays: Widowers' Houses (1893), Arms and the Man, (1894) and Mrs Warren's Profession (1898).

The newer blue plaque is more sober:

'Virginia Stephen (Virginia Woolf) 1882-1941 Novelist and Critic lived here 1907-11.'

Woolf moved in here with her brother Adrian before moving on to 38 Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury.

At 33 Fitzroy Square, Roger Fry had his Omega Studios between 1913 and 1919. Fry was a 'member' of the Bloomsbury Group, and soundproofed his walls with seaweed. Wyndham Lewis also used the premises, but left after a strong argument and started the Vorticists.