Wordsworth House is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

situated in

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England, and in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. It was built in the mid-18th century.

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

was born in the house in 1770. The house is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It is open to the public as a

writer's house museum Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...

from March to October each year.

History

The house was built in 1745 for Joshua Lucock who was then the

High Sheriff of Cumberland The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...

. It was sold in 1761 to

James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (5 August 173624 May 1802) was an English country landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 27 years from 1757 to 1784, when he was raised to the Peerage of Great Britain as Earl of Lonsdale. ...

, who allowed his agent John Wordsworth and Anne Cookson to live there rent free, where

and his brothers and sisters were born. Wordsworth would live there until he was around eight years old, when his mother died in 1778, and when his father died in 1783, the house was emptied. It would remain a private property until the 1930s, when it was sold to a local bus company who intended to demolish it and build a bus station. After a national campaign, the building was purchased and donated to the

in 1938. Wordsworth House was designated a Grade I

on 28 August 1951. In November 2009, Cumbria was hit by flooding. Wordsworth House was one of many historic houses in the region to be affected by the floods, but was relatively lucky in that volunteers were able to move many of the historical artefacts to the dry floors of the house.

Building

The building is located at Main Street,

. It was built in 1745, made of stone, with stone

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

. The door has

doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

columns either side, There is a small garden to the front.

References

External links

* {{William Wordsworth Biographical museums in Cumbria Georgian architecture in England Grade I listed houses in Cumbria Historic house museums in Cumbria Houses completed in the 18th century Literary museums in England National Trust properties in Cumbria Poetry museums William Wordsworth Cockermouth

History

Building

See also

References

External links