John Clare Cottage

John Clare Cottage
General information
Address	12 Woodgate
Town or city	Helpston
Coordinates	52°38′03″N 0°20′41″W / 52.6342°N 0.3446°W / 52.6342; -0.3446
Named for	John Clare
Owner	John Clare Trust
Website
http://www.clarecottage.org/

John Clare Cottage is a cottage and literary museum in Helpston, Peterborough, United Kingdom. The cottage was the birthplace of English poet John Clare (1793-1864).

The thatched Grade II* cottage^[1] at 12 Woodgate, Helpston, originally consisted of five smaller tenement buildings, that were joined into a single structure at a later date.^[2]

The cottage was bought by the John Clare Trust in 2005.^[3] In May 2007, the Trust gained £1.27 million of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund^[4] and commissioned Jefferson Sheard Architects to create a new landscape design and Visitor Centre, including a cafe, shop and exhibition space. The Cottage was restored using traditional building methods and is open to the public.

In 2013 the John Clare Trust received a further grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help preserve the building^[5] and provide educational activities for young people visiting the cottage.^[6]

The garden behind the cottage is maintained by volunteers, and planted with varieties which would have been seen in Clare's time.^[3]

The John Clare Cottage forms part of the Fens Museum Partnership, along with Peterborough Museum and Flag Fen.^[7]

• 
  Clare Cottage in 2018
• 
  Statue of John Clare
• 
  Cottage gardens
• 
  Plaque erected by the Peterborough Museum Society 1921