ABSTRACT
In 1976 the mournful notes of a plangent, romantic theme tune introduced television audiences to the whispered messages of national loss and decay that echo through Evelyn Waugh’s threnody on the decline and fall of the great house of Brideshead. The fictional places and identities of the novel took on material form: the magnificent palace of Castle Howard stood in for Brideshead, Lord Marchmain became Lord Olivier. The country house is the most familiar symbol of our national heritage, a symbol which, for the most part has remained in private hands. The National Trust has its origins in the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society, founded in 1865, and its primary purpose was not the protection of buildings or private property, but public access to the countryside.
