Trent Park, a historic country house with a hidden history in Enfield, North London, has opened to the public as a museum for the first time. Known as the ‘House of Secrets’ the stately home witnessed some of the most pivotal events of the 20th century, and this extraordinary story of espionage, courage and creative deception has remained largely untold for over 70 years.

Trent Park House of Secrets (photo: Sue Board)

Newly restored rooms and displays at Trent Park House chart the central role the house played in Britain’s intelligence battle with Germany between 1939 and the end of World War II. The former residence of Sir Philip Sassoon, ‘the greatest host in Britain’, the house is at the heart of 413-acre Trent Country Park in North London, and for the first time since 1939, furnishings and artworks once belonging to Sir Philip Sassoon will return to the house and be displayed in their original setting.

Philip de László, Portrait of Sir Philip Sassoon, aged 28, 1915

Between 1939 and the end of the Second World War, Trent Park played a key role in Britain’s intelligence battle with Germany and is comparable in importance to Bletchley Park. Senior German officers, including 59 generals, were held captive in luxurious surroundings, treated with unusual privileges but unaware that their conversations were being recorded. Vital information was obtained by a complex network of miniaturised bugging devices hidden in every corner – in walls and skirtings, light fittings, plant pots, window ledges, the billiard table, and even the garden benches.

Beneath the state rooms, teams of ‘Secret Listeners’, many of whom were German-speaking Jewish refugees, worked in concealed basement rooms, recording conversations between the captured officers and producing intelligence that gave the Allies a crucial advantage in the intelligence war against Germany.

Rendering of the restored Trent Park House (photo: Berkeley Homes)

Before 1939, Trent Park had been one of the great country houses of the interwar years. In the 1920s the existing Victorian structure was remodelled to the taste of Sir Philip Sassoon of the Sassoon banking family, one of the wealthiest men in England. A lifelong bachelor, Sassoon was a close friend of the future Edward VIII and of Winston Churchill and served as an MP and as Under-Secretary of State for Air. Political friends, including members of the Royal Family, were entertained at weekends where they mixed with artists and entertainers such as Rex Whistler, George Bernard Shaw, Noel Coward, T. E. Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’), Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire.

Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth visiting Trent Park House, early 1930s. © Houghton Hall

Sassoon died in 1939 and the house was requisitioned by the government as a centre for intelligence operations — its glamorous interwar life giving way to its secret wartime purpose.

In the new museum, the two strands of Trent Park’s history have been brought together as an immersive visitor experience. The state rooms on the ground floor have been restored to their 1930s appearance, while beneath them in the basement the listening stations, offices and working rooms of the Secret Listeners are shown in operation. The museum presents the contrasting stories of peacetime opulence and wartime intelligence.

Sir Winston Churchill in the Wisteria Walk, Trent Park, 1930s. © Houghton Hall

Dr Giuseppe Albano MBE, Director, Trent Park House of Secrets, said: “For decades the story of Trent Park has been hidden in plain sight. Many people were aware that something unusual had happened here during the war, but its full significance only became clear much later, and that is what makes it such a compelling place to explore today. We are opening the house with many secrets to share, and there will be more to discover in the years ahead as the story of Trent Park continues to unfold.”
 
If you or your group would like to visit Trent Park House of Secrets on a tailor-made tour of London, or England, please do contact our friendly team today. Or perhaps you would like to step back in time to discover more about Britain’s wartime heritage on a Churchill Tour? If so, we can help!