Wordsworth House

Wordsworth House is the birthplace of 18th century writer William Wordsworth. The house was built in 1745 and was bought by Sir James Lowther in 1764 to house his land agent John Wordsworth (William's father). It was on 4 April 1770 that William was born there.

The house was owned privately until the 1930s and in 1937, Cockermouth Library tried to raise the funds to buy it. Unfortunately the local bus company bought it with a view to demolishing it and using the site as a bus station. This created a lot of national media interest and enough money was raised to buy it back. The house was eventually handed to the National Trust in 1938 and the following year it opened as the Wordsowrth Memorial and became a Grade 1 listed building.

After much research and planning, the house had a £1million revamp, thanks to the Trust, returning it to a more authentic 18th century setting. Wordsworth House was reopened, presented as the home of the Wordsworth family in the 1770s in June 2004.

Visitors to the house are able to experience what life was like for William with hands-on activities and costumes. There is a working 18th century kitchen, John Wordsworth's office and family rooms. Furniture in many of the rooms belonged to Wordsworth himself and there are also portraits of William and other Lakes writers.

The garden overlooks the River Derwent and has been lovingly restored to the playground of the Wordsworth children.

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