John Ruskin at Brantwood, Coniston, Cumbria

Brantwood, Coniston, Cumbria. Not the most brilliant photo of an author's home I've ever taken, but there we are. The original building (much added to later) dates from the tail end of the eighteenth century, when the land was bought by Thomas Woodville. By 1852 the poet William James Linton had bought it: his second wife was the popular novelist Eliza Lynn Linton, who wrote several of her triple-deckers here. John Ruskin (1819–1900) was recovering from an illness in Matlock, Derbyshire in 1871 when he bought the property unseen for £1500: he knew where it was and the view it commanded, and although the house itself was disappointing he was more than impressed by its actual situation.

'JOHN HOWARD

WHITEHOUSE 1873–1900

who saved Brantwood

as a memorial to
John Ruskin'

The study. Linton had knocked two rooms into one here. This was a centre of activity for Ruskin, where for instance he founded the Guild of St George to provide fair rent farms.

The wallpaper is to Ruskin's original design.

The drawing room, with the painting Zipporah to the left of the fireplace.

The bay window looking onto Coniston Water, and the septangular room leading from the drawing room, are additions dating from 1905, after Joan (Ruskin's cousin) and Arthur Severn had inherited the estate from John Ruskin.

The dining room.

Children's illustrator Kate Greenaway (1846–1907), born in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, who was a friend of Ruskin's and who first visited Brantwood in 1883.

Plaster copy of the medallion on the Ruskin memorial at Friar's Crag, Derwent Water.

The turret, again looking out onto Coniston Water.

The bed in which Ruskin died on 20 January 1900.

Finally, images from the grave of John Ruskin in the parish church graveyard, Coniston:

Dorothy Una Ratcliffe in Temple Sowerby, Cumbria

Temple Sowerby Manor, Cumbria. Originally called Acorn Bank, this building dates from around 1600 but was much renovated in about 1745 and bought by the writer Dorothy Una Ratcliffe (1887–1967) – who changed the name to Temple Sowerby Manor – in 1934, after which it was further renovated. Dorothy was born Dorothy Clough and married Charles Radcliffe (brother of the forgotten poet Victor Radcliffe) in 1909. She married her second husband Noel McGrigor Phillips in 1930, and lived with him here until his death in the 1940s. She also lived here for a few years with her third husband, Alfred Charles Vowles, who altered his surname to Phillips by deed poll. Dorothy Una Ratcliffe donated Temple Sowerby Manor (without contents!) to the National Trust, who have now (er, for purely historical reasons, or also out of spite because she took the contents?) chosen to change the name back to the original.

Drainpipe with Dorothy Phillips's initials.

'THIS

ANCIENT HOUSE

AND ITS ESTATE

WERE GIVEN

TO THE NATIONAL TRUST

SUMMER 1950

BY M^RS NOEL M^CGRIGOR PHILLIPS

(DOROTHY UNA RATCLIFFE)'

The room in Temple Sowerby Manor dedicated to Dorothy Una Ratcliffe. The painting is a copy of an original by Ambrose McEvoy, now (as with many of the contents of this building) left to the City of Leeds.

Dorothy Una Ratcliffe published over forty books: plays, poems (sometimes in Yorkshire dialect), travel writings, etc. She was editor of the literary magazine Microcosm.

Dorothy Phillips's etching on a window in the entrance hall.

Our National Trust guide mentioned (more than once and clearly mockingly) that Dorothy Phillips (aka Dorothy Una Ratcliffe) thought herself lady of the manor. But without her, the National Trust certainly wouldn't have her (renamed) Temple Sowerby Manor to crow about.

On a happier note: this caravan is the first structure that greets visitors: Dorothy Una Ratcliffe was a fan of gypsies – even thought that she had gypsy blood in her – and she was an early caravanning enthusiast: with her third husband, she toured Scotland in one.

Beatrix Potter in Near Sawrey, Cumbria

Hill Top, Near Sawrey (Sawrey consisting of the hamlets Near Sawrey and Far Sawrey). This is the farm the very successful Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) – author and artist (a word she scorned in relation to herself) – moved to in 1905, shortly after her fiancé Norman Warne's death. At the time John Cannon managed the farm and lived there with his family .

Potter wanted the Cannons to stay there, so had an extension built, which is dated 1906. She married local solicitor William Heelis in 1913.

The entrance hall.

The parlour, originally a bedroom.

A glimpse of the kitchen.

Beatrix Potter only rarely used this room, and never slept in this bed.

The sitting room.

On the road down from Hill Top:

'Buckle Yeat

is featured in many

of Beatrix Potters [sic]

books, including The Tale

of Tom Kitten, Pie &

The Patty Pan and

Piggling Bland'

Beatrix Potter bequeathed over 4000 acres to the National Trust, including fifteen farms and many cottages.

William Wordsworth in Grasmere, Cumbria (continued)

The memorial to William Wordsworth at the entrance to the village.

The Wordsworth memorial in St Oswald's church:

'TO THE MEMORY OF

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH,

A TRUE PHILOSOPHER AND POET,

WHO, BY THE SAME SPECIAL GIFT AND CALLING OF

ALMIGHTY GOD,

WHETHER HE DISCOURSED ON MAN OR NATURE,

FAILED NOT TO LIFT UP THE HEART

TO HOLY THINGS,

TIRED NOT OF MAINTAINING THE CAUSE

OF THE POOR AND SIMPLE;

AND SO, IN PERILOUS TIMES WAS RAISED UP

TO BE A CHIEF MINISTER,

NOT ONLY OF NOBLEST POESY,

BUT OF HIGH AND SACRED TRUTH.

THIS MEMORIAL

IS PLACED HERE BY HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS,

IN TESTIMONY OF

RESPECT, AFFECTION, AND GRATITUDE.

ANNO MDCCCLI.'

The Wordsworth daffodil garden, a tribute to the poet.

'For oft, when my couch I lie

In vacant of in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude:

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodil.

                             William Wordsworth'

'WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

1850
MARY WORDSWORTH'

'DOROTHY WORDSWORTH

1855'

'DORA QUILLIAN

9TH DAY OF JULY

1847'

'EDWARD QUILLIAN

Born at Oporto, August 12th 1791.

Died at Loughbrigg Holme, July 8th 1851.'

'JOHN WORDSWORTH

BROTHER OF WILLIAM AND DOROTHY

"A SILENT POET", A "CHERISHED VISITANT"

AND LOVER OF THIS VALLEY. BORN 4 DEC:

1772, HE DIED AT HIS POST AS COMMANDER

OF THE EARL OF ABERGAVENNEY WHICH

WAS WRECKED IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

5 FEBRUARY 1805. HE WAS BURIED AT

WYKE REGIS.'

My other William Wordsworth links:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
William Wordsworth in Cockermouth, Cumbria
William Wordsworth in Hawkshead, Cumbria
William Wordsworth at Dove Cottage and Allan Bank in Grasmere, Cumbria
William Wordsworth at Rydal Mount, Ambleside, Cumbria