Wordsworth home damaged in blaze

Large parts of Allan Bank property in the Lake District destroyed by overnight fire after a suspected electrical fault One of the “big three” Wordsworth houses in the Lake District has been seriously damaged by fire after a suspected electrical fault. Large parts of Allan Bank at Grasmere, Cumbria, have been destroyed in spite of an overnight operation by fire crews from five stations. No one was hurt at the National Trust property, which William Wordsworth made notorious by repeated complaints about its smoky chimneys. Two women tenants were safely evacuated after the alarm was raised at 1.30am. Firefighters from Grasmere and Ambleside were reinforced by crews from Coniston, Windermere and Keswick as the blaze spread through the large mansion, completely gutting the first floor. Extensive water damage is also expected throughout the remains of the late 18th-century building, which the poet and his family also disliked because of its incurably damp walls. Initial tests suggest that an electrical fault in the roof-space may have caused the fire at the house, which overlooks Easedale valley and the rocky southern face of Helm Crag. Allen Bank is not open to the public but well-used footpaths crisscross its grounds. Wordsworth grumbled about it initially as an eyesore from his then home at Dove Cottage, the other side of Grasmere Lake. He disliked not only its bulk but the “belching” smoke from its ineffectively built chimneys. When he moved there in 1808 to have room for his growing family and regular visitors such as the writer Thomas de Quincey, he found the smoke often filled rooms as well as the garden and grounds, because of the hopeless down draught. He also fell out with the landlord and in 1813 moved to the much grander Rydal Mount, two miles away, where he lived until his death in 1850. Both Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount are open to the public and among the Lake District’s biggest attractions. Allan Bank was bought in 1915 by Hardwicke Rawnsley, an clergyman and one of the founders of the National Trust. Rawnsley left it to the organisation when he died five years later. The National Trust has only recently completed repairs to Wordsworth’s birthplace at Cockermouth, which was damaged by the Cumbrian floods in November 2009 but has reopened while restoration of its garden continues. William Wordsworth Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 23, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.