The Thorn Tree, Mansfield Road, Eastwood

Although brought up in the teetotal ethos of the Band of Hope, Lawrence wrote a surprising amount about pubs, from the Ram Inn at Beauvale (see earlier blog) to the Punchbowl in Mapperley, Nottingham. The second chapter of Aaron's Rod is set in the fictional 'Royal Oak', in reality the Thorn Tree, illustrated in the damaged photo above.

Now demolished, this stood on Mansfield Road opposite Cockerhouse Lane. In the novel the landlady, Mrs Houseley, is described as: 'a large, stout, high-coloured woman with a fine profile, probably Jewish', which doesn't seem to match the only woman in this picture. In the book she ran a special bar parlour for 'superior' customers, as she is fond of 'intellectual discussion'.

It is noteworthy that the landlady of the Thorn Tree, Ellen Wharton, was licensed to brew and sell beer, such a role being an acceptable way for a woman at that time to run her own business.

Was this the original of Mellor's cottage?

The photos shows the derelict gamekeeper's cottage in High Park Wood at Moorgreen. Today, apparently, it still stands but is more overgrown than shown in the picture.Several of Lawrence's early works, such as The White Peacock and 'Shades of Spring', are set in this area and involve gamekeepers, who can be seen as forerunners of Mellors in Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Lawrence must have known this cottage, which appears to have been solidly built if small, from his walks in the area, and clearly found the ambiguous social position of the gamekeeper fascinating. Both Annable in The White Peacock, and Mellors, are portrayed as men who have deliberately chosen their role, somewhat outside the class system, which they have rejected after flirting with the middle class. They are made the spokesmen of the 'natural', instinctive life, and to some extent may be seen as aspects of Lawrence's own persona.