John Milton's Cottage

Earlier this year, myself and co-host Paul Waters recorded two live episodes of our We'd Like a Word podcast in front of a small audience at Milton's Cottage in Chalfont St Giles. 

It's a wonderful location and also a great example of how the touch of fame can imbue a building with immense significance.

The Cottage was built in the late 16th century for the estate manager of The Vache – a nearby country house once owned by George Fleetwood, one of the people who signed the death warrant of Charles I. Unusually for a writer, Milton was at the centre of this turbulent period in British history. Having postponed his early poetic ambitions to support the Republican cause, he served as Cromwell’s Secretary for Foreign Tongues (and unofficial spin doctor). The political pamphlets he wrote during these years have had a strong influence on our current parliamentary structure – and more notably upon the written constitutions of America and the French Revolution. 

In 1665 the Plague came to London and Milton needed to get out of the city. The cottage was secured for him and his family by a friend and former pupil, Thomas Ellwood, who described it as 'that pretty box in St Giles Chalfonte.' 

Although he lived at the cottage for just two years, it was where Milton wrote his masterpiece, Paradise Lost, described by the poet John Dryden, as 'one of the most sublime poems this age or nation has produced.' It was published in 1667 to great acclaim.

The cottage is the only surviving building in which Milton ever lived, albeit briefly. The four museum rooms contain the most extensive collection in the world on open display of 17th-century first editions of John Milton's works, both poetry and prose.   

The chair you see me sitting in (I was given special permission) belonged to the Milton family and is believed to be the very chair that the great man sat in while dictating his work - he was blind by this time. A fanciful painting of Milton dictating to his daughters (below) was painted in 1826 by Eugène Delacroix.

Milton was a knowledgeable botanist and, during his time at the house, he landscaped the gardens and created a beautiful space. However, it must have been frustrating not to have been able to see the fruits of his labours. 

After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, he was politically exiled – but lucky to escape with his life considering his vigorous support of Cromwell – and returned both the London and to his first love, poetry. His stay at Chalfont St Giles (and the garden in particular) had inspired him to write a sequel to his masterwork called Paradise Regained. 

He died, impoverished, in 1674 (aged 65) and is buried at St Giles-without-Cripplegate in London.

Apart from great poetry, Milton also added more words to the English language than anyone else, including Shakespeare, Chaucer and Ben Jonson. He is credited with at least 630 neologisms, including ensanguined, emblazonry, earthshaking, lovelorn, fragrance, pandemonium and the phrase by hook or crook. Shakespeare is credited with less than 500.

Incredibly, there was once a bid by the Americans to buy Milton’s Cottage and have it dismantled and transported across the sea where it would be recreated - much like what happened to London Bridge (the popular story that the bridge was bought in the mistaken belief that it was Tower Bridge is, sadly, an urban myth). 

However, Queen Victoria was having none of it and she helped secure it for the nation by supporting a public appeal and by being the first person to donate money to purchase the cottage. It was successfully bought in 1887 and has been open to the public ever since – making it one of the oldest writer’s house museums in the world. 

As I said in my introduction, the touch of fame changes a building from mere bricks and mortar into something rather more special. And the effect can ripple out to neighbouring properties, including this one opposite the cottage.

I'm told that their menu is excellent. 

But paradise found? 

That's your call. 

The Milton's Cottage website is here.