Who knew that the famous tale of Alice in Wonderland had ties to Yorkshire? Not me. But, it turns out that the author Lewis Carroll actually lived in North Yorkshire, and the Grade II listed Georgian town house he lived in is on the market for £1.6 million. Do you fancy living in a piece of history?
Carroll is famous for creating such memorable characters as the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the villainous Queen of Hearts and it turns out he spend some of his childhood in Ripon at Ripon Hall on High St Agnesgate, which is home to three reception rooms, six bedrooms, three bathrooms and private walled gardens. Plenty of space to dream up those memorable faces.
Built in the 18th Century, Savills, the property website, says that it’s where Carroll lived as a young man in the 1850s from 1841 to 1858.
It boasts a 1738 staircase hall which is accentuated with plasterwork that is ‘unmatched’. Elegant, grand and other such synonyms are used to describe the immaculate house that we’d love to call our home – not only because its a small piece of history, but also because Ripon, Yorkshire’s smallest city, is such a quaint and beautiful place to live.
The BBC reports that David Winpenny, the co-chairman of the Ripon Civic Society, said the house was “very important”.
Explaining: “It’s one of the most historic houses in Ripon. We know it was built in 1738 and it was altered in the mid-19th Century, but it’s got some very fine interiors.” Winepenny goes on to say that Lewis Carroll – the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – was a regular resident at the house for several years because “His father was Archdeacon of Richmond, which meant he was a canon in residence at the cathedral for three months each year”.
Interestingly, though Carroll’s famous novels weren’t written until many years later, Mr Winpenny explained it was believed that some aspects of the much-loved book could have been inspired by their time here.
He said: “We think he was inspired by some of the carvings of the cathedral, the Cheshire Cat and the rabbits going down rabbit holes in the cathedral.”
How amazing is that? If you’d like to find out more about the house, head over to the Savills website here.
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Feature Image Credit: Savills
