New funding to 'save' William Blake's cottage
The West Sussex cottage where poet and artist William Blake wrote the words for Jerusalem has secured National Lottery funding.Blake's thatched cottage in Felpham was awarded just under £244,000 to address "urgent structural" concerns in the walls and chimneys and preserve and restore its roof and timbering.The money will also be spent on developing a "long-term, viable plan" for the building, which the Blake Cottage Trust has previously warned was in "real danger of being lost forever". Doug Nicholls, chair of the trust, said the "generous grant" would allow them to undertake essential conservation work and ensure the safety of the historic cottage.
'Desperate state'
Richard Clemmow, a trustee at the trust, said the building was in a "desperate state". He said that last autumn the trust had put up a "tin hat" to protect the roof, which had let in water from rain and storms. Earlier this year, the trust stripped the rotten thatch to prevent the roof from collapsing under its weight. "It feels like a very important moment in our urgent battle to save Blake's Cottage," Mr Clemmow added.
Blake and his wife Catherine lived in Felpham between 1800 and 1803. Here he wrote Milton: A Poem that contained in its preface the poem And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time, which was later set to music as the hymn Jerusalem – sometimes sung as an unofficial English national anthem.Mr Nicholls added the trust's vision was to "create a vibrant centre that informs, inspires, and celebrates the extraordinary legacy" of the couple. The Blake Cottage Trust has said it needs to raise £3m in the longer term.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
7 hours ago
- Scotsman
Himalayan Railway steam locomotive's return to Glasgow for Commonwealth Games
Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A steam locomotive built in Glasgow for a mountain railway in the Indian Himalayas is to return to the city for the first time since it was exported 137 years ago under plans to showcase it during the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The narrow gauge engine, simply named 19B, was among 40 constructed to haul passengers and freight from the plains of India up to Darjeeling, some of which are still running on the classic line. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Locomotive 19B is being restored at Statfold Barn Railway | Andy Savage It is being restored at a heritage railway in England. A new boiler designed by the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway in Wales is due to be fitted early next year so the locomotive can operate again from next summer. Built in 1889, the locomotive was withdrawn from service with a boiler fault in 1960, then sold to an enthusiast in America, where it remained for more than 40 years. The engine was acquired in 2002 by Adrian Shooter, the-then managing director of English train operator Chiltern Railways, who died three years ago. The locomotive was then bought by the Darjeeling Tank Locomotive Trust, a charity established to preserve it. Once restored, it is hoped that 19B will run again at the Statfold Barn Railway, near Tamworth in Staffordshire, where it has been based for the past two years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Trust vice-president Andy Savage said: 'It is part of an iconic class of locomotives, recognised worldwide, and a design of 1889, built at the Sharp, Stewart works in Springburn, that is still doing what it was built for in 2025. 'All other working B-class locos are still in use on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - ours is the only one to have left India since arrival there. The locomotive visiting the Ffestiniog Railway in 2005 | Andy Savage 'The trust particularly wants to take the locomotive back to Glasgow at the time of the Commonwealth Games, when we hope that its long history in India will be of interest to those who have links with that country, as well as being a wonderful example of how Glasgow built and exported locomotives across the world.' Mr Savage said the trust was seeking possible venues in Springburn to display the locomotive during the Games in July next year, which could be accompanied by a theatrical production. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad John Messner, curator of transport and technology at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, said: 'It is an amazing survivor and its service history in India and latterly back here in the UK sounds unique. 'Sharp, Stewart, and latterly the North British Locomotive Company, produced thousands of locomotives that were exported across the globe. Loco 19B represents that legacy and if it were to visit the city of its birth, I am sure that it will receive a warm welcome.' Mr Messner said the giant Glasgow-built South African Railways locomotive 3007, acquired by Glasgow Museums which is on show at the Riverside Museum, was 'another example of the global impact made by Glaswegian locomotive builders'. Glasgow Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said: 'I have been working with the trust to bring 19B back to the site where it was built, now the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Spectator
8 hours ago
- Spectator
Respect thine elders
Before the arrival of strawberries, and not long after the coming of the swifts, the elder salutes the coming of summer after its own fashion: emerging from roadsides and hedgerows, gardens and wasteland, and scenting them with its blooms. Almost a century ago, Maud Grieve, in her 1931 Modern Herbal, said 'that our English summer is not here until the elder is fully in flower, and that it ends when the berries are ripe'. At this time, when thorn blossom – which made our hedgerows look set for a wedding – has faded, the elder, like cow parsley, offers its own floral exuberance. Thrips, the insects which pollinate elders, are not themselves beautiful creatures, but seeing the blossoms of the elder, and smelling its fragrance, we experience something of the thrip's idea of worldly beauty. Karl Popper, the philosopher of science, pointed out that we should not dismiss such styles of thought as anthropomorphism. They are – but they are also a form of argument by analogy. Other animals have appendages that we call legs because they are analogous to our legs; so too they have emotions and behaviours and desires and interests, and an apparent sense of what is beautiful and what is not, and therefore it is not silly, when we think of these things, to use the words we use for our own lives. Most years there are articles about the elder when its flowers come into bloom. This allows us to notice that there is nothing about our appreciation of the world that need be original – indeed, that appreciation is more important than originality. The creamy white colour of the elderflower is neither as overlooked nor as remarkable as the golden-coloured eyes of the common toad, which Orwell described as being like a semi-precious stone called a chrysoberyl. Nor is its scent unusual – sweet, intoxicating, a little overpowering, like New Zealand sauvignon blanc with its notorious note of cat's urine. Nevertheless, the value of experience is not in it being unusual. Quite the opposite. Our joy in it being the start of summer, a sense that it will not be long before the flowers fade and the berries signal autumn, comes to us yearly. The elder has its seasons – and so do we. The elder has a long-standing, and not always pleasant, place in our cultural history. Shakespeare mentioned the myth of Judas hanging himself on an elder tree. The mushrooms that grow on its bark were called Jew's ears, and although they are now called wood ear or jelly ear, the Linnean name, Auricularia auricula-judae, retains the old meaning. Pleasant that anti-Semitism has faded and there seems no need to erase its footprints when our modern usage has improved. Repainting words to make our history prettier is not generally helpful. The mushrooms are edible, with a striking gelatinous texture, and a related species is much prized in China for that same quality. Elder, whose genus name is Sambucus, gave its name to the liqueur Sambuca, although the version drunk today – which can contain elderflower but relies for its flavour on anise – has little in common with the elderberry liqueur which first gave rise to the name. That the flowers are edible is common knowledge, and elderflower cordial remains a popular drink. Elderflower champagne and elderflower fritters are easy enough to prepare. Few recipes mention that, to enjoy what thrips so love, you must be willing occasionally to enjoy a few thrips too. Removing most of them is easy; getting rid of them all is not. In his famous article on the common toad, Orwell defended the habit of noticing the beauty of nature, even for those who felt life should otherwise be political. 'Certainly we ought to be discontented, we ought not simply to find out ways of making the best of a bad job, and yet if we kill all pleasure in the actual process of life, what sort of future are we preparing for ourselves?' I have noticed that articles in The Spectator which are not about politics are often attacked, in the online comments, as being fillers. My own suspicion is that the reverse is probably closer to the truth, and that when we look back on our lives we will find we have forgotten most of the current affairs that once seemed urgent – but not the waft of scented elderflower on lengthening evenings now May has slipped into June.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- The Independent
Single Lotto ticket holder wins £4 million jackpot
A single ticket holder has won the £4 million jackpot in Saturday's Lotto draw. The winning Lotto numbers were 11, 17, 27, 30, 39 and 46 while the bonus number was 56. Players have been urged to check their tickets and call in to claim the top prize, with the jackpot winner matching all six main numbers to take the £4,003,513 sum. Set of balls 10 and draw machine Lancelot were used. Wednesday's jackpot will be an estimated £2 million. Andy Carter, senior winners' advisor at The National Lottery operator Allwyn, said: 'Amazing news for our lucky Lotto players, as one ticket-holder has won tonight's £4 million jackpot. 'Luck is clearly in the air, as this is the second Lotto jackpot win in a week, after a single ticket-holder bagged last Saturday's (May 31) £3.9 million jackpot.' No players matched all five numbers in Lotto HotPicks, which uses the same numbers as the Lotto draw. Twelve players won £13,000 each after they managed to match four numbers. The winning Thunderball numbers were 01, 05, 13, 17 and 39 while the Thunderball was 08. No-one matched all five numbers plus the Thunderball to scoop the £500,000 top prize, but one ticket holder matched all five regular numbers to win £5,000.
