Alfred, Lord Tennyson in Somersby and Louth, Lincolnshire

Saint Margaret's, Somersby.

 

'IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF

ALFRED, 1^ST LORD TENNYSON.

BORN 1809. DIED 1892.

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THIS TABLET IS ERECTED IN THE CHURCH OF HIS BAPTISM,

AT HIS BIRTHPLACE, AND THE HOME OF HIS YOUTH.

––––––––––

                                     "Follow the Christ, the King;

Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King."'

 

'With thanks to GOD, for HIS gift of song

and in Memory of the Centenary of the Birth

in the Old Rectory hard by, of Alfred

Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate, this Church

was restored and a replica in Bronze of Woolner's

Bust of the Poet was placed within on the sixth

day of August 1911 by the Tennyson Centenary

Committee.'

 

The Old Rectory is now in private possession, and trees conceal much of the front, making photography from the street virtually impossible.

 

 

 

A small display case in the church includes two clay pipes and a quill pen, marked as having belonged to the poet.

 

The tomb of the poet's father lies very close to the church, to the south-west of the tower.

'To the Memory of

The Reverend

GEORGE CLAYTON TENNYSON,

L.L.D.

Eldest Son George Tennyson Esq

of Bayons Manor,

and Rector of this Parish,

of Bag Enderby, and Bennyworth,

and Vicar of Great Grimsby in this County.

He departed this life

on the 16^th day of March 1831.

Aged 52 years.'

 

 

The future poet underwent the harsh teaching of the grammar school in Louth for a relatively brief time, although this was not the same building as the present one.

 

'"An old wall covered with
wild weeds
opposite the school windows"
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
1809 – 1892
at Louth Grammar School
1816 – 1820'

 

 

'FROM THESE PREMISES
WAS PUBLISHED IN 1827
ALFRED AND CHARLES An
TENNYSON'S
"POEMS BY
   TWO BROTHERS"

THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED BY THE
LOUTH MUSEUM COMMITTEE'

 

In Tennyson's time these premises in the centre of Louth were where Jacksons, the booksellers and printers, ran their business. An old drawing of the place looks quite similar to the building today.