Historic buildings and places are reminders of how people have lived, coped, struggled, and sometimes even changed the world.
Here are ten places that have witnessed moments of self-isolation throughout history.
1. Woolsthorpe Manor House
The scientist Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe Manor. It was also here that he took an 18 month break from Cambridge University in 1665 to escape the plague.
During this time of solitude, he formulated his theory on gravity, aided by the apple tree which still stands in the garden.
He also developed his understanding of refraction when experimenting with a prism. He split light streaming through his window into the colours of the rainbow.
2. Crowland Abbey
The origins of Crowland Abbey begin around 700 AD when its founder, St Guthlac, sought self-isolation and became a hermit for religious contemplation.
Guthlac had learned about a remote island called Crowland set amidst ‘a most dismal fen of immense size’, where people couldn’t live because of the ‘phantoms and demons and terrors of various shapes’. It was the perfect hideaway for a deeply religious man.
However, Guthlac’s hopes for self-isolation were ruined by locals interested in his chosen life on the marshes. Far from leading a life of quiet and simple contemplation, Guthlac became the go-to prophet and healer of the day and put the previously unheard-of Crowland on the map.
3. Pontefract Hermitage
The hermit life of isolation and religious contemplation has been the norm for many throughout history.
Pontefract Hermitage was carved out of Carboniferous sandstone in 1386. Pontefract had hermits from the early 13th century, the earliest being Peter of Pomfret, who was executed by King John in 1213 for predicting his downfall.
The tradition seems to have continued for about three centuries, though this particular site was forgotten for many centuries after falling out of use. It was re-discovered in October 1854 by workmen laying a new sewer and now lies below ground under the Pontefract General Infirmary.
4. The writing hut of Henry Williamson, Georgeham
This hut was built by the author Henry Williamson in 1929.
Williamson was an important 20th-century writer of natural and social fiction. He built the hut using the prize money awarded for arguably his most famous work, ‘Tarka the Otter’.
It’s a humble but characterful little building, surrounded by trees which Williamson planted to create a sanctuary where he could continue his writing. He used the hut for many years and the field in which it stood became a bountiful natural habitat for local wildlife, something which was very important to the writer.
5. The Cabin in Bucks Mills, Bideford
Sitting on the cliff above Bideford Bay, this cabin is a studio and summer cottage once shared by the artists Judith Ackland and Mary Stella Edwards.
After meeting as students in London and falling in love, the artists travelled extensively throughout the country, painting and selling their work. The Cabin (a former 19th-century fisherman’s store) became their studio and retreat in 1924.
After Judith died in 1971, Mary Stella closed The Cabin and did not return. It has been left unchanged and was listed in 2017.
6. Jodrell Bank Observatory
Jodrell Bank Observatory was born out of the need for isolation and quiet.
The fields where the observatory now stands were once owned by the University of Manchester’s Botany department. In 1945, a young astrophysicist called Bernard Lovell escaped there when he found his attempts to decipher cosmic rays were being hampered by radio interference in central Manchester.
The observatory is one of the earliest sites for radio telescopes and had a pivotal role in the development of the new science of radio astronomy. This was one of the first steps towards modern astrophysics, revolutionising our understanding of the universe.
7. Longstone Lighthouse
Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands is where the famous Darling family lived.
On 6 September 1838, a massive storm wrecked the SS Forfarshire near the lighthouse. The keeper William Darling decided to try and rescue any survivors. Together with his daughter Grace, they rescued nine survivors in their small rowing boat.
Grace subsequently became something of a Victorian heroine after the rescue. She even received fan mail asking for locks of her hair and pieces of the dress that she wore during the rescue.
8. Boscobel Royal Oak and priest hole
Following the execution of King Charles I in 1649, his eldest son (Charles II) tried in vain to regain the throne.
Defeated at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, the young Charles fled and sought refuge at Boscobel House in Shropshire, hiding first in a tree, which is now known as The Royal Oak. He then spent the night hiding in a priest hole in the lodge at Boscobel before escaping to France.
Priest holes, or hides, were commonly used by Catholic priests towards the end of the 16th century when it was high treason for them to be in Elizabethan England.
9. The fogou at Carn Euny, Penzance
The fogou at Carn Euny ancient village in Penzance, Cornwall is a mysterious place.
Fogous (from the Cornish word ‘ogo’, meaning cave) are underground passages and are found only in the far west of Cornwall. Around 12 are known to survive.
Their original use is unclear, but they are largely believed to have been refuges from attackers. They could also have been a place to store goods or sites of ceremony and ritual.
Fogous are thought to have been used from the Iron Age to the Roman period and this particular example dates from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD.
10. Former Second World War IN-Station, Norwich
Discreet military activities usually require isolation and secrecy.
During the Second World War, a series of underground wireless stations were built as part of a secret communications network set up by Churchill in response to the increasing threat of German invasion.
The recruits in ‘Churchill’s Secret Army’ (also known as the British Resistance Organisation) had to verbally swear to secrecy and communicate with the army by a secret wireless network. Messages were transmitted from OUT-Stations in enemy-occupied areas to IN-Stations, which were outside the occupied area and manned by the military.
There are thought to be 32 IN-Stations in England, though only 12 have been found. This one in Norwich is complete with a fake bookcase to conceal the wireless room and an escape tunnel.
Further reading
Turves Fenland had two young military recruits to maintain wireless/wired communication. Adjacent to false airstrip of Whittlesey Dyke. Importance discovered by laying of new cables
Thank you, very interesting and topical! Some fascinating ‘new’ [to me] sites
I’d like to suggest that you add prisons and workhouses to your list. Both were inherently about isolating groups from society – criminals and the poor – and within each there were areas for particular isolation either for punishment (eg solitary confinement) or to deal with infectious disease (receiving wards in workhouses). We have examples of both institutions in historic buildings in Ripon, North Yorkshire, now presented as museums.
Very interesting. Especially the Pontefract reference, I was born there.
If you’re interested in the topic or your kids are studying health/medicine at secondary school, you may also like to look at Historic England’s education resource on Isolation Hospitals: https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/teaching-activities/caring-for-people-isolation-hospitals/
How about mother Julian’s cell, Norwich?
Why no links to or mentions of the organisations which fund the care of these places and open then to your public? With the tourism industry on its knees, you might at the very least do them common courtesy.