Blake’s cottage in Felpham, where he lived for three creative years, nearly collapsed in 2023. If it had, we would have lost the only remaining single place of residence where our most influential cultural figure lived and worked. We now know exactly what the cottage looked like when Blake was there, and we will shortly know exactly what he was growing in the garden for those three years. We have a new roof of rusted gold thatch in the material and style he would have known. We have discovered his oven, we know what colour the paint work was inside and out, what the mortar was made of, where the flints came from and what species of timber were where in what order, and where his printing press must have been. We have also started work on making a working replica of his print machine, and the Allen Ginsberg estate has donated the harmonium on which Ginsberg composed tunes to Blake songs.
Now the real work begins.
Join us to appreciate the intense work that has taken place to understand and save the fabric of the cottage and what needs to happen next!
Doug Nicholls grew up near Blake’s cottage in the seventies and, with other friends studying literature and art at Bognor Regis School, often hoped the cottage would one day be in the hands of the nation to create a permanent and living celebration for Blake. Doug pursued a life as a national trade union leader and writer, living in various parts of the country. On seeing the state of the cottage in 2023, the year of his retirement, he returned to Sussex to lend a hand in its revival.
Doug’s latest collection of poems is The Commonwealth of Britain, Workable Books, 2023.
