Gustav Holst moved to Monk Street, just outside Thaxted, in 1914, and wrote much of The Planets there. According to his daughter, Imogen, he "liked the Essex fields, and the lanes that had to wind their way round them, and the thatched cottages that looked as if they had grown there." He especially liked the church, for its sense of light and space, and became a friend of the vicar, Conrad Noel.
Holst became very involved with music in Thaxted Church, and at Whitsun 1916 organised a weekend festival of music with his London pupils from Morley College joining the Thaxted choir to sing Bach and Byrd for the church services. He wrote enthusiastic letters about this weekend, saying: "It was a feast, an orgy. Four whole days of perpetual singing and playing." His friend Vaughan Williams wrote: "Your letter about Thaxted was splendid - I sometimes feel the future of musical England rests with you."
In 1917 Holst and his family moved into Thaxted to a house in Town Street, where in 1924 he wrote his Choral Symphony. He also wrote several works especially for Thaxted, including his setting of a traditional carol: Tomorrow shall be my dancing day, dedicated to Conrad Noel. Both he and Vaughan Williams played the Lincoln organ regularly during this period. He left Thaxted in 1925, but did not lose touch with his many friends there.