John Clare cottage

I am! yet what I am who cares, or knows?

     My friends forsake me like a memory lost. 

This poem of John Clare’s has long been a favourite of mine and yet, it is only recently that I discovered it is possible to visit his home, John Clare cottage in Helpston, near Peterborough.

Born in 1793 at the cottage which is now preserved as Clare Cottage, John Clare was the son of a farm labourer. He grew up in this thatched home, surrounded by open fields and countryside. As a child, he spent much of the winter months threshing corn and much of the summer working in the fields. Occasionally, he was able to attend Mrs Bullimore’s Dame School in the village, where he received a rudimentary education.

Both John’s parents encouraged his learning and he spent much time writing, jotting his ideas down on scraps of paper. Apparently, he used to hide his writing in a hole in the wall, but his mother found them and, not realising their importance, used them to light the fire. Later, she gave him a small box with a lock in which to safely store his books.

Clare worked as a pot boy at the local inn and later worked as a gardener at Burghley House amongst other things. When his parents were threatened with eviction from their home, he offered his poems to a local bookseller, Edward Drury, who sent them to his cousin, John Taylor of the Taylor & Hessey firm, which had published the work of John Keats. His work gained popularity, but Clare’s mental health was suffering and his behaviour became increasingly erratic and his family had him committed to a private asylum.

In July 1841, Clare absconded from the asylum in Essex and walked some 80 miles home, convinced he was to meet his first love, Mary Joyce, to whom he thought he was married. Between Christmas and New Year, 1841, Clare was committed to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum and he died of a stroke on the 20th May 1864.

The cottage is a lovely place to visit with an excellent cafe, managed by lovely volunteers. A detailed audio-guide leads you as you walk through the cottage, each room presented as he might have known it, where his life and work are celebrated. The stairs up are quite narrow and steep, but the one down are far worse! Visitors can return down the ‘up’ stairs if they prefer and those unable to manage the climb can watch a video about those rooms in the Dovecot in the garden.

Well tended, peaceful gardens behind the cottage make a lovely space to sit and reflect, perhaps enjoying some of Clare’s poems. The village church, where he is buried, is at the end of the road, a short walk from the cottage and you pass a monument to Clare on the way.

Unfortunately, the church was closed, but Clare’s grave was easy to find. The wording on the stone is now hard to read, but a newly added marker now makes this clear.

Visiting the cottage was a real pleasure.

John Clare cottage

Woodgate,

Helpston,

Peterborough

PE6 7ED