Wordsworth in Leicestershire

Between 1806 and 1807, William Wordsworth lived and worked in Coleorton near Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire.

Today Coleorton is an unremarkable village in the midst of an ex-coal mining area. A couple of centuries earlier, however, Coleorton was a major destination for 19th-century artists and writers such as Byron, Coleridge, Southey, Sir Walter Scott, John Constable, Mrs Siddons and William Wordsworth.

Sir George Beaumont of Coleorton Hall was a skilled amateur painter and art enthusiast, whose gift to the nation of sixteen old masters, led to the establishment of the National Gallery. He became a friend and patron to the Lake Poets, especially Wordsworth, who became a lifelong friend.

In 1806 when their home at Dove Cottage became too crowded, Beaumont invited Wordsworth and his family, to stay at Hall Farm, on his estate.
Lady Beaumont asked Wordsworth to create a winter garden within the grounds of the new hall, which still exists today. At Christmas, they were joined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose obsession with Wordsworth's sister in law, Sarah, led to a peculiar incident, when he became convinced that she was having an affair with William.

Wordsworth wrote many poems in this period, some of which were published in his 1807, 'Poems in Two Volumes'.

The connection between Leicestershire and the lake poets is little known but this illustrated book uncovers the details and provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the most famous poets of the early 19th century.