Saved from Collapse, William Blake’s Former Cottage to be Restored with Plans for a Museum

A cottage where artist and poet William Blake once lived is one step closer to being preserved as a museum. At risk of collapse, funding will be used to fix the thatched roof, the Art Newspaper reported.

Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker during the Romantic era. Though he was mostly unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake was associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his time, among them Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft.

Blake lived in the cottage in Felpham village in Sussex, UK, with his wife Catherine Boucher for three years. During that time, he created a number of notable works including his famous poem Jerusalem, which later became an unofficial English national anthem.

In 2015, the house was purchased by the Blake Cottage Trust from private residents. Since then, it has suffered denigration of the roof, rotting rafters, and crumbling walls, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The World Monuments Fund Britain has raised £55,000 (roughly $71, 600) along with grant-giving organizations Foyle Foundation and Foulerton Charitable Trust to cover the costs of the repair. The efforts are part of a larger plan to restore the house and make it accessible to the public.

The work is being overseen by a board of trustees who were appointed in early 2024. According to the Blake Cottage Trust, the work will occur in stages: The dilapidated thatched roof will be replaced and the fabric of the building secured first. Second, the cottage and garden will be restored to reflect what it would have looked like when Blake resided there. The final stage involves creating a dedicated arts and educational center. The total estimated cost comes in at £4 million ($5.21 million).

“We aim to preserve his remaining cottage in Felpham and transform it into an inspirational center that celebrates all of his art forms and thought and encourages students and artists to create more motivational work”, the Blake Cottage Trust chair Doug Nicholls told the Art Newspaper.