Willy Lott's Cottage (or Willy Lott's House) is a building in Flatford, East Bergholt,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England, which appears in several paintings by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

, notably ''

The Hay Wain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs ...

''. The property is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, reflecting its importance "as part of the Flatford Mill group" and "its significance in the work of the artist John Constable". The earliest part of the building is sixteenth century. It was restored in the 1920s after a revival of interest in Constable's paintings. It has been renamed Willy Lott's House as that is the name Constable used in his paintings. It is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

. The cottage was purchased in 1926 by Thomas Parkington; after his death in 1943, the National Trust purchased it from his estate. The cottage is located on the bank of the River Stour, just downstream from Flatford Mill in the heart of Dedham Vale, a typically English rural landscape. Flatford Mill, along with neighbouring Valley Farm and Bridge Cottage, are leased to the

Field Studies Council Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK, which offers opportunities for people to learn about and engage with the outdoors. History The organisation was established as the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies in ...

, which uses them as locations for

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

-based courses such as

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, and as accommodation for

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

-based courses such as residential

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

trips for students up to

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

William Lott

The cottage takes its name from its resident at the time John Constable did his paintings, when the house was known as Gibeons Gate Farm. William Lott (1761–1849), a tenant farmer, lived at Gibeons Farm and spent only four nights away from this house in his life. According to a 2020 article, "Willy Lott himself became famous thanks to Constable, but only after his death". ''The Story of Willy Lott and his Cottage'' (2023) has been published by Brian Lott, the gt-gt-gt-grandson of Willy's brother John Lott (1758-1827). File:The Mill Stream, Flatford By John Constable.jpg, '' The Mill Stream'', 1814 File:Willy Lott's House from the Stour.png, '' Willy Lott's House from the Stour'', 1818 Willy_Lott's_Cottage_-_Constable.jpg, ''Willy Lott's Cottage'' by

, circa 1820 File:John Constable - The Hay Wain (1821).jpg, ''

'' by John Constable, 1821 Willy Lott's Cottage by John Constable 1832.jpg, ''Willy Lott's Cottage'' by John Constable, 1832

References

External links

*
National Trust - Willy Lott's House''Constable's England''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Willy Lott's Cottage {{Babergh Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk Grade I listed houses Houses in Suffolk National Trust properties in Suffolk Timber framed buildings in Suffolk East Bergholt Cottages