Fulworth
26/08/09 14:34 Filed in: Locations
The village of Fulworth lies in a hollow curving in a semicircle round the bay. Behind the old-fashioned hamlet several modern houses have been built upon the rising ground.
‘Holmes probably invented the name, as Watson often did, for the sake of confidentiality. Though most observers locate Fulworth in East Sussex, it's worth noting that there was a house on the West Sussex shore which could have inspired some small part of "The Lion's Mane." It stood in the resort town of Felpham, past the post office on Limmer Lane. A contemporary description of this "Turret House" says it was a "plain white house in the village, with its turret in a corner of the walled garden." Once the home of gentleman-writer William Hayley (1745-1820), Turret House became better-known as the haunt of Hayley's reluctant protege, Willliam Blake -- that visionary genius (some say madman) who soared in the realms of mystical art and poetry. For several years, beginning in 1800, Hayley provided Blake with a thatched cottage a few steps away from his own door. Blake wrote of the initial summons to Turret House:" Away to Sweet Felpham, for heaven is there; The Ladder of Angels descends thro' the air; On the Turret its spiral does softly descend.... " Heaven soon turned to hell for Blake, who clashed with the imperious Hayley. Blake scribbled many delicious, sarcastic couplets about his patron in the margins of his surviving drawing books. The cottage Blake occupied survived, too; it's marked with a brass plaque. Turret House, alas, fell into the clutches of a developer several years ago and the site is now home to some modern flats.’ (Sonia Fetherston - Fri, 10 Apr 1998)
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