Rectories in Literature - From Bronte to Whodunnit

Church properties – from the humble parsonage to the fine Rectories – have been inextricably linked to literature since the Brontë sisters first starting writing their classic novels in windy Haworth. They pop up in Jane Austen and Trollope, and they have even spawned writers including Lewis Carroll, John Dryden and Austen herself. Rectories are of course grist to the mill of whodunits from Agatha Christie to Dorothy L Sayers. Why are they so much a part of English literature, and now many have been sold, is this the end of the road for this unique relationship?

Who better to discuss rectories in literature than the queen of crime, PD James, Prue Leith who lives and writes in a Rectory and Dr Simon Thurley, the leading architectural historian, regular broadcaster on television and radio and the Chief Executive of English Heritage – all of whom will be talking to journalist and former-Daily Telegraph Editor Charles Moore.

This event is in association with The Rectories Society www.rectorysociety.org.uk