Alfoxton House
| Alfoxton House | |
|---|---|
  Location within Somerset | |
| General information | |
| Town or city | Holford |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°09′50″N 3°12′31″W / 51.1638°N 3.2085°W |
| Completed | 1710 |
| Client | John St Albyn |
Alfoxton House, also known as Alfoxton Park, was built as an 18th-century country house in Holford, Somerset, England, within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The present house was rebuilt in 1710 after the previous building was destroyed in a fire.[1]
History
The poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived at Alfoxton House between July 1797 and June 1798, during the time of their friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.[2] Dorothy began her journals here in January 1798 but discontinued them 2 months later to recommence when the couple moved to the Lake District.[3] These were posthumously published as The Alfoxden Journal, 1798 and The Grasmere Journals, 1800-1803.
The building was refenestrated and re-roofed in the 19th century. It has been changed and extended significantly since the time of the Wordsworths to turn it into a country hotel. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.[3] During World War II it housed evacuees from Wellington House School Westgate on Sea in Kent.[4]
Building
Alfoxton House was built in the 18th century of rendered rubble stone, the main block being on a double-pile plan, i.e. two main rooms on each side of a central corridor. The house is two storeys high, with an attic that includes dormer windows. The frontage includes a central porch with columns, frieze and cornice in a Doric style. There is an extension to the left, originally an orangery, with a steep roof over a verandah. The wall includes the coat of arms of the St. Albyn family who owed the house for many years.[3]
References
- ↑ "Alfoxton Park Hotel". Information Britain. Archived from the original on 1 May 2005. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ↑ "Stringston". British History Online. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Alfoxton Park Hotel". Images of England. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ↑ Waite, Vincent (1964). Portrait of the Quantocks. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7091-1158-4.