Places & Possessions: The Old Lodge
How Matthew’s private space holds memory while making room for change
In A Discovery of Witches, the Old Lodge is introduced as Matthew’s private residence in England, outside of Woodstock, not far from Oxford. Set apart from the main rhythms of the outside world, it becomes the place where Diana stays during her first visits.
From the beginning, it feels different.
Deborah Harkness’s inspiration for The Lodge - Speke Hall
The Old Lodge carries history, but not in a distant or decorative way. It feels lived in, shaped by the different versions of Matthew who have passed through it.
In the sixteenth century, it was connected to the world of the School of Night, a place of ideas, experimentation, and intellectual risk. That history doesn’t disappear. It lingers in the structure of the space and in the way it is used.
What makes The Old Lodge especially interesting is how it changes over time.
By the present timeline, it is no longer just a private residence tied to Matthew’s past. While he remains connected to it, the space now exists alongside something new. Amira, a witch, teaches yoga within the estate, bringing witches, vampires, and daemons together in a shared, physical practice.
The presence of yoga within the estate brings witches, vampires, and daemons into the same room, moving together in a way that would not be allowed under the rules of the Congregation. At the Lodge, those boundaries begin to loosen. It becomes one of the few spaces where that kind of gathering feels possible, where different forms of power can exist alongside each other without immediate conflict.
That matters because it offers a glimpse of something larger.
The Old Lodge once held secrecy, control, and carefully managed knowledge. It was a place where ideas were contained and explored within clear boundaries. Now, within the same walls, there is movement, breath, and a different kind of discipline, something more open and shared.
This is where The Old Lodge begins to feel less like a setting and more like something active in the story. It reflects Matthew’s evolution in a way that is easy to miss if you only see it as background.
Earlier in his life, Matthew’s world was structured around control. The School of Night, the Knights of Lazarus, and the systems he built all relied on boundaries and a clear sense of order. The Old Lodge reflects that version of him.
But in the present, those structures are shifting. Diana’s presence changes what the space is used for, just as it changes Matthew himself. What was once private becomes shared. It now serves the role of as a safe, intimate space for new beginnings to take shape between Matthew and Diana.
It becomes the natural place Matthew brings Diana when he wants to step away from the intensity of Oxford. Removed from expectation and scrutiny, it offers something neither of them has had before, a space that feels contained but not controlled.
Within those walls, their relationship begins to shift. They practice yoga. Matthew cooks for her. They settle into small, shared routines that feel ordinary, and their relationship grows.
The Old Lodge has becomes an early version of the world Diana and Matthew are beginning to build together, one where connection replaces separation, and where the structures that once defined everything no longer hold in the same way.
That idea connects to the way Deborah Harkness builds her world. Many of the spaces in All Souls are rooted in real places, like Speke Hall that reflects the kind of layered history the Lodge represents.
These buildings are not preserved as static artifacts. They are lived in, adapted, and reshaped over time. You can walk through them and feel that layering.
The Old Lodge works in the same way.
It is not just where Matthew lives. It is a record of who he has bee and a reflection of who he is becoming. And like Matthew, it continues to evolve, quietly, as the life inside it changes.
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