Long Crichel village and surrounding lands were once part of the Crichel Estate for many centuries, before it was broken up. The estate's owners lived at Crichel House in Moor Crichel.[2]
The village church is St Mary's Church, Long Crichel. The tower of the church dates from the 15th century, and the rest of the church was rebuilt in 1851.[3] It closed in 2001, was declared redundant on 1 July 2003,[4] and was vested in the Friends of Friendless Churches in 2010.[5] The Friends restored the Grade II listed church's medieval tower and east stained glass window. Christian services can still take place in the church and burials are still allowed in the churchyard, which is now the responsibility of the neighbouring Witchampton church council.[2]
Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant stayed at the house; Bell did a number of paintings of it and made painted plates for it, while Grant designed the dining room curtains.[7]
Sackville-West died in 1965 and Knollys and his friend Mattei Radev bought another country home in Hampshire in 1967.[6] Shawe-Taylor remained at Long Crichel House until he died there, aged 88, on 1 November 1995, following a country walk.[8][9]
^Warrack, John (2004) "Taylor, Desmond Christopher Shawe- (1907–1995)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, online edition, May 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2010 (requires subscription)
^"Desmond Shawe-Taylor – Obituary" (3 November 1995) The Times
Media related to Long Crichel at Wikimedia Commons
