Milton's Cottage is a timber-framed 16th-century building in the

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

village of

Chalfont St Giles Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont. It lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, we ...

. It was the former home of writer John Milton, and is open to the public as a writer's house museum.

Overview

In 1665 Milton and his wife moved into the cottage to escape the Plague in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Despite Milton's having spent less than a year at the cottage, it is important because of its being his only

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

residence. While at the Grade I listed 16th-century cottage, Milton completed his best known work, ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

''; the seeds for '' Paradise Regained'' were also sown here. Milton's friend Thomas Ellwood called the cottage "that pretty box in St. Giles". The ground floor of the cottage is now a museum dedicated to Milton and his works. The four museum rooms contain the most extensive collection in the world on open display of 17th-century first editions of John Milton's works, both poetry and prose. Tours vividly describe and explore the extraordinary career of this blind genius in his refuge from the plague, where he wrote some of the finest poetry. John Milton portrait painting

The cottage's garden is also open to the public and is planted in a traditional style.

Royal interest

In 1887, after an attempt was made to move the house to America and rebuild it there, a movement was begun locally to purchase the house by local public subscription.

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

opened the subscription list for the purchase of the Cottage in 1887. The Cottage and garden have been visited by

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother,

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. Ma ...

, and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, on separate occasions. To celebrate the quatercentenary of Milton's birth in 2008,

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, also visited.

References

External links

Milton's Cottage Trust website
{{coord, 51.630442, -0.572716, region:GB_type:landmark_scale:1000, display=title 16th-century establishments in England Houses completed in the 16th century Milton's Cottage Historic house museums in Buckinghamshire Biographical museums in Buckinghamshire John Milton Grade I listed buildings in Buckinghamshire Grade I listed houses Grade I listed museum buildings Literary museums in England Timber framed buildings in England Chalfont St Giles Great Plague of London