A TIMELINE OF BLAKE’S COTTAGE IN FELPHAM

( A VILLAGE RECORDED IN THE 11TH CENTURY DOMEDAY BOOK )

1600s / The Cottage is built in the Sussex style of brick & flint walls supporting a thatched roof, with a fine line of decorative knapped flints on the facade.
1700s / The Cottage is rendered with lime mortar and whitewashed - the image in Blake’s illustration in Milton.
1799 / October / Likely date for sale of the Cottage to George Grinder, landlord of The Fox Inn, to settle the debts of the estate of Sir Richard Hotham.
1800 / July / William Blake visits William Hayley at Felpham.
Late July / Blake agrees to move to Felpham to work under Hayley’s patronage.
21 September / William & Catherine Blake move into the Cottage. The rent is £20 per year. ‘A sweet place for Study, as it is more Spiritual than London.’
Over the next 3 years Blake executes various commissions for Hayley while also working on The Four Zoas and Milton, including ‘And did those feet…?’, now known as the hymn Jerusalem.
2 October / Sends Thomas Butts a poem recording ‘My first vision of light’ by the sea.
1801 / 10 May / Writes to Butts over a proposed visit that ‘my cottage is too narrow for your ease or comfort’, while ‘Felpham is the sweetest spot on Earth’.
1802 / 10 January / Writes that ‘The Ague & Rheumatism’ have been Catherine Blake’s ‘almost constant Enemies… since we have been here’. He is ‘determined not to remain another winter’.
22 November / Sends Butts a poem describing visions while walking from Felpham to Lavant to meet his sister. ‘Now I a fourfold vision see…’
1803 / 30 January / Writes to his brother James that ‘our time is almost out that we took the Cottage for’, and that Hayley ‘will be no further My friend than he is compell’d by circumstances.’ ‘We are very Happy sitting at tea by a wood fire in our Cottage, the wind singing above our roof & the sea roaring at a distance, but if sickness comes all is unpleasant.’
12 August / Turns Private Schofield out of the Cottage’s garden. Schofield accuses him of uttering ‘seditious libel.’
mid-September / William & Catherine leave the Cottage on expiration of the lease and return to London.
1804 / January / Blake’s trial in Chichester, resulting in his acquittal. Blake and Hayley ride to Lavant to celebrate with Harriet Poole, ‘the Lady of Lavant’.
circa 1856 / Blake’s biographer Alexander Gilchrist notes that the cottage is occupied by ‘a gardener’, while ‘a thatched wooden verandah shelters the lower rooms from the southern sun’.
1917 / November / The Cottage is sold for £325. The conveyance states that it was part of the Glebe lands (church land) belonging to the Parish of Felpham and Middleton.
1928 / The Cottage is bought by the Howell family, in whose possession it remains until 2015.
1980s / The lime render is removed to reveal the brick & flint facade again.
1993 / In conversation with Tim Heath, Heather Howell expresses the wish that the cottage should one day be placed in trust for all who are inspired by Blake.
2011 / Tim Heath receives the first indications that the Howell family plans to sell the Cottage.
2012 / 24 October / In discussing Blake’s two surviving residences, the Blake Society’s Executive Committee agrees that there should be no formal link between the Society and any trust set up to acquire the Cottage.
2013 / June / The Howell family put the cottage up for sale.
2014 / 4 February / The Executive Committee notes that £520,000 needs to be raised to purchase the cottage.
5 March / The Committee notes that Tim Heath has negotiated an option to purchase the cottage with the Howell family, on behalf of an independent trust to be formed for that purpose. The Committee agrees that fundraising should be done by a separate body, working closely with the Society.
5 March onwards / Some members of the Committee help to organise fundraising, including through the Society’s website and newsletters, and contact with local and national grant-giving bodies.
11 September / An article in the Guardian newspaper by Alison Flood states: 'Once the cottage is purchased, the society intends that it will be put into a charitable trust to be held in perpetuity for the benefit of the nation.'
30 October / In accordance with the Committee’s position, the Blake Cottage Trust is incorporated (the first step to becoming a charitable trust), with Tim Heath as Chair.
9 December / The Committee formally notes legal advice to the Blake Cottage Trust confirming that the Trust and the Society should be separate legal entities. The other initial Trustees are to be Michael Phillips, an academic expert on Blake’s homes and printing techniques, and Peter Johns, a management consultant and accountant living in the house of the ‘Lady of Lavant’ near Felpham.
Tim Heath informs the Committee that £107,000 has so far been donated or pledged to the appeal. Donations are held by the Blake Society in a special account.
2015 / 2 March / The Blake Cottage Trust becomes a registered charity, regulated by the Charity Commission.
3 March / Tim Heath reports to the Committee that the option to purchase has expired before sufficient funds have been raised. Sale to a private buyer appears to be the most likely outcome.
22 June / Tim Heath informs the Committee that the Blake Cottage Trust is able to purchase the Cottage following a major donation. In order to enable the sale to be completed, the Committee formally agrees to transfer to the Blake Cottage Trust the donations it has been holding on the Trust’s behalf.
21 September / Completion of the sale to the Blake Cottage Trust, safeguarding the Cottage in perpetuity. The Trust takes on responsibility for restoration and maintenance of the Cottage as well as for long-term plans for access to it as a centre of Blake-inspired creativity.

In the interest of full transparency over its decisions relating to the setting up of the Blake Cottage Trust and the purchase of the cottage, the Society’s Executive Committee is sharing all relevant extracts from the minutes of its meetings. They can be seen here.