1923
Great Gable, in the Lake District, was presented to the Trust by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, as a memorial to members who had been killed in the Great War.
The principal speaker at its dedication was the great Alpine climber and poet, Geoffrey Winthrop Young, who had had his leg amputated while serving with the British Red Cross on the Italian front.
Young continued to climb with the help of a specially adapted artificial leg, ascending the Matterhorn in 1928.
One of Young’s closest friends, the historian GM Trevelyan, was also a powerful advocate for the Trust. He wrote an eloquent booklet called 'Must England’s Beauty Perish?', which helped to regalvanise the Trust after a period of declining membership.
Trevelyan used his friendship with the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, and with the author John Buchan, to gain support for the Trust.
1925
Under the chairmanship of John Bailey, a distinguished critic and journalist, the Trust received more sympathetic coverage from the press than at any time in its history, before or since.
On 25 October a letter in The Times appealing for funds for Ashridge in Hertfordshire was signed by Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald and Herbert Asquith – a total of three Prime Ministers.
1927
Stonehenge Down, over 1,400 acres of farmland around Stonehenge, was bought after a national appeal. Even then it was felt to be threatened by the proximity of major roads. In 2003 proposals were published for a 2km tunnel to limit the intrusion of traffic.
1929
The Trust was able to acquire 4,000 acres of the Monk Coniston estate, near Coniston Water. This was made possible by Beatrix Potter, who used the income from her childrens’ books to support the Trust’s work in the Lake District.
During her lifetime she managed many of these farms on behalf of the Trust, championing the historical significance of their vernacular buildings.She was an outstandingly generous benefactor, but also at times fiercely critical, saying that:
"The Trust is a noble thing, and humanly speaking immortal. There are some silly mortals connected with it; but they will pass".
1931
The National Trust for Scotland was established, with similar statutory powers to the National Trust, but with an entirely independent constitution.
1934
West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire became the first village to be protected by the Trust. There are now around 40 protected villages.
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