You may be among the many people who know of DIAL HOUSE, if only because it was home to the
infamous anarchist punk band, CRASS. Although over the years some members of the band have
moved on, three remain at DIAL HOUSE, maintaining their anarchist lifestyle and sharing it
with what over time has grown to be a massive extended family.
When we first rented DIAL HOUSE thirty years ago it was a derelict, rat infested dump with a
rubbish heap for a garden. Nonetheless, we could see in it the possibility of making real
our dream of setting up a communal creative and theraputic centre.
Having completely renovated the house to include studio, print-rooms, a rehersal space and
workshops, we created an organic garden that enabled us to be largely self-sufficient. The
more we expanded, the more we were able to share.
From the outset, in 1967, the lifestyle at DIAL HOUSE has sought to offer residents, guests,
visitors and the broader community a workable alternative to the all-pervading consumer
ethic. For over thirty years, the DIAL HOUSE community has shared its vision of possibility
and hope against a culture in which personal greed has become an accepted norm.
CRASS was perhaps our most renowned enterprise, seconded by the creation of the first
STONEHENGE FESTIVALS. These were public expressions of the more personal ideas which had
always been shared by the community.
