Kiln House — Early Fleetwood Mac, Hampshire

Kiln House, a large country property in Hampshire, was where Fleetwood Mac lived and rehearsed in the period following the departure of Peter Green in 1970 — a communal base for the band that gave its name to the album they recorded there. The Kiln House period represented a pivotal and difficult transitional moment: Green had been the musical and spiritual core of the original Fleetwood Mac, the blues guitarist whose playing on 'Albatross,' 'Man of the World,' 'Oh Well,' and 'The Green Manalishi' had made them one of the most significant British blues acts; his departure, following a mental health crisis exacerbated by LSD use, left the band without their primary creative force and required a fundamental reinvention.

The Kiln House album (1970) was made primarily by Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, the two guitarists who remained alongside Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. It is a warm, country-influenced record quite different from the heavy blues of the Green era, and its modest commercial success demonstrated that the band could survive without their founder. Further transitions followed: Spencer departed in 1971 during an American tour, walking out of a rehearsal and not returning (he had joined a religious cult); Kirwan was dismissed in 1972; and Christine McVie, who had joined as a full member, became the band's most consistent creative voice through the early 1970s.

The Hampshire property that served as Kiln House is in the quiet countryside of the county, far from the urban contexts usually associated with rock music. The communal living arrangements of the early 1970s British rock world — bands in country houses, attempting to sustain creative communities away from London — are documented through numerous albums named for the properties where they were made. Fleetwood Mac's subsequent history, including the transformative arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in 1974 and the recording of 'Rumours' (1977), represents one of the most dramatic reinventions in rock history.