William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
English poet whose Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the English Romantic movement. Wordsworth was Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from pleurisy on 23 April 1850.
The former Dame Birkett's School, St. Andrew's Place, Penrith, Cumbria.
This Tudor building of 1563 was once a school for children of upper class families. William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and future wife Mary were pupils at Dame Birkett's School.
The Old Hawkshead Grammar School, Hawkshead in the Lake District, Cumbria.
The grammar school was founded in 1585 by Archbishop Edwin Sandys of York. William Wordsworth attended the school and carved his name in one of the desks! The school closed in 1909, but is now run as a museum.
Wordsworth Street street sign in Hawkshead, Lake District, Cumbria.
Anne Tysons Cottage is on Wordsworth Street. This is where William lodged while attending Hawkshead Grammar School.
The street was formerly known as "Leather, Rag & Putty Street"..
The cobbled Wordsworth Street street sign in Hawkshead, Lake District, Cumbria.
Anne Tysons Cottage is on Wordsworth Street. This is where William lodged while attending Hawkshead Grammar School. The street was formerly known as "Leather, Rag & Putty Street".
Daffodils, planted in 1847 by William Wordsworth in memory of his beloved daughter Dorothy who died aged forty three.
A distant view of Allan Bank, Grasmere in the Lake District, Cumbria:
Allan Bank was the home of William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy, wife Mary and their five children from 1808-1811. His good friend the poet Coleridge, also lived with them and Coleridge stayed on in Allan Bank after the Wordsworth family left. William hated the large house, describing it as a ‘temple of abomination’.
The former Public Library, Penrith, Eden, Cumbria.
Now part of the Town Hall, adapted in 1905 from two 1792 classical houses designed by Robert Adams.
William Wordsworth's cousins John and Richard Wordsworth, lived in the original building.
The Robin Hood, Penrith, Eden, Cumbria.
William Wordsworth stayed here, nursing his dying friend Raisley Calvert.
The pair had walked from Keswick, trying to make their way to Portugal in the hope of curing Raisley's tuberculosis. Raisley was buried at Greystoke. He left William £900 in his will.
William Wordsworth Memorial in Cockermouth, Cumbria.
This bronze bust was unveiled by William's great grandson on 7th April 1970, the bicentenary of William's birth.
William Wordsworth Memorial in Cockermouth, Cumbria.
This bronze bust was unveiled by William's great grandson on 7th April 1970, the bicentenary of William's birth.
William and Dorothy Wordsworth childhood memorial drinking fountain, Cockermouth in Cumbria.
This fountain was originally erected in 1896 in Harris Park by Canon Rawnsley, co-founder of the National Trust.
It was stolen from the park, fortunately recovered and positioned next to William's Memorial opposite Wordsworth House.
Wordsworth House, Cockermouth in Cumbria.
This fine house, built in 1745, was the birthplace and childhood home of the poet William Wordsworth during the 1770s. William's father had worked as agent for the owner of the house, Sir James Lowther of Whitehaven, and the Wordsworth family were allowed to occupy it rent-free. Grade 1 Listed.
Holy Trinity Church, Seathwaite in the Duddon Valley, Cumbria.
Built in 1874 to a design by Paley and Austin of Lancaster.
For 67 years the curate of Holy Trinity was the Rev Robert Walker who was made famous by the poet William Wordsworth. Wordsworth called him 'Wonderful Walker' and referred to him in his sonnet, 'Seathwaite Chapel'.
Wordsworth's Yew at Lorton near Cockermouth in Cumbria.
The 1,000 year old yew stands behind the village hall in the village of Lorton. The tree featured in the BBC program 'Meetings with Remarkable Trees' and was immortalised by William Wordsworth in the poem, ‘Yew Trees’.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached under the tree in the 1750s and George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, also preached here to a large crowd that included soldiers from Cromwell’s army.
The tree is on private land and is best viewed from the bridge over Whit Beck or from the old village pinfold next to the bridge where there is an interpretation panel.
The Fish Inn, Buttermere in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Mary Robinson, 'The Beauty of Buttermere' (1778 - 1837) was the daughter of the landlord of the Fish Inn. She was a shepherdess, known for her beauty, and in 1802 she met John Hatfield, who called himself "Colonel Hope", the brother of an earl. Their marriage got a lot of attention, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in the London Morning Post of "The romantic marriage". When Hatfield was exposed as an impostor, bigamist and forger, he was arrested. He escaped, to be captured in South Wales, tried at Carlisle, and hanged in 1803. In 1807 Mary married a local farmer and had four children. She is buried at St Kentigern's Church in Caldbeck.
The story of Mary captured the public imagination of the time and William Wordsworth wrote of her in 'The Prelude'. She is also the subject of Melvyn Bragg's 1987 novel, 'The Maid of Buttermere'.
The memorial to Robert Southey (Poet Laureate 1813 – 1843) in St Kentigern’s Church, Crosthwaite near Keswick in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Robert Southey lived at Greta Hall in Keswick. He wrote the original story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. His version was simply called, 'The story of the Three Bears'.
The epitaph was written by William Wordsworth, who succeeded him in the post of Poet Laureate:
"Ye Vales and Hills, whose beauty hither drew.
The poet's steps, and fixed him here, on you.
His eyes have closed."
A swan beside Loughrigg Tarn on the south western slopes of Loughrigg Fell in the Lake District, Cumbria.
This tarn was a favourite of William Wordsworth who described it as 'round, clear and bright as heaven'.
An 1891 stained glass window by the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Henry Holiday in St Mary's Church at Rydal. The window was a memorial to the step-daughters of Wordsworth's daughter, Dora.
A painting of William and Mary Wordsworth by Margaret Gilles (1839) on display at Rydal Mount, Rydal in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Rydal Mount was William Wordsworth’s home for the greater part of his life from 1813 to his death in 1850 at the age of 80.
Admission charge.
N.B. I had verbal permission to photograph the painting, but you must seek permission from the Wordsworth family (via the curator) before downloading the image.
The Horn of Egremont, Egremont Castle, Egremont, Cumbria.
The Horn of Egremont sculpture by Paul Bainbridge. This 2006 sculpture of a knight blowing the legendary Horn of Egremont stands in the grounds of Egremont Castle. According to legend only true heirs to the castle were able to blow the horn.
William Wordsworth wrote a poem entitled The Horn of Egremont Castle, the first verse of which reads:
'ERE the Brothers through the gateway
Issued forth with old and young,
To the Horn Sir Eustace pointed.
Which for ages there had hung.
Horn it was which none could sound.
No one upon living ground,
Save He who came as rightful Heir.
To Egremont's Domains and Castle fair.'
The Jerwood Centre, Grasmere, Cumbria.
Built in 2005 from local slate, this fine building holds Wordsworth related manuscripts, books and paintings. It was opened in 2005 by the poet and Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney.
Not open to the public.
Wordsworth Daffodil Garden, Grasmere in the Lake District, Cumbria.
The Wordsworth family plot in the graveyard of St. Oswald's Church, Grasmere in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Left to right: Son William and wife Fanny / sister Dorothy / brother John / William and wife Mary / daughter Dora / Dora's husband Edward.
Sedbergh School Library, Cumbria.
The original site of Sedbergh School, founded in 1525 as a chantry school by Roger Lupton, Provost of Eton. The library building, built in 1716, originally housed classrooms. The geologist, Adam Sedgwick of Dent and William Wordsworth’s son were both pupils at the school. Coleridge’s popular but eccentric and alcoholic son, Hartley, taught here in 1837. The school became a grammar school in 1551, then independent in 1875.
St. Mary's Church at Rydal was built in 1824 when William Wordsworth lived at Rydal Mount. He was a church warden here.
The Old Stamp House where the poet William Wordsworth worked as Collector of Stamps for Westmorland from 1813- 1843.
Hardraw Force, Hardraw, Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales.
At 30 metres, this is the tallest single drop waterfall above ground in England.
William Wordsworth visited the falls in 1799, describing them as ‘lofty and magnificent’ and Turner's painting of 1816 now hangs in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Kevin Costner bathed here in the 1991 film, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
Dove Cottage, home of the poet William Wordsworth from 1799 to 1808 at Grasmere in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Ann Tyson's Cottage, Hawkshead in the Lake District, Cumbria.
William Wordsworth is said to have lodged at this 17th century cottage while he attended Hawkshead Grammar School.
Wordsworth's daffodils at Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater in the Lake District, Cumbria.
This is where William Wordsworth saw the daffodils that inspired his 1884 poem, ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’.
Gordale Scar, Malham in the Yorkshire Dales.
The towering limestone cliffs are a result of violent earth movements along the Craven Fault. The gorge was formed by a torrent of water from the melting ice at the end of the last Ice Age.
William Wordsworth visited Gordale in 1807 and wrote in a sonnet,
" let thy feet repair
To Gordale-chasm,
terrific as the lair .
Where the young lions couch;
Mirehouse, Bassenthwaite in the Lake District, Cumbria: Built in 1666 by the Earl of Derby, Mirehouse has been the family home of the Spedding family since 1802. James Spedding wrote ‘The Life and Letters of Frances Bacon’ and the family has entertained many literary guests at the house, including Thomas Carlyle, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Alfred (Lord) Tennyson.
House and gardens open to the public. Entrance charge.
N.B. Photo taken from a public footpath.