Editing Woolsthorpe Manor

{{Short description|Family home and birthplace of Isaac Newton}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox building
| name             = Woolsthorpe Manor
| image            = LEO3122 2022 04 0002.jpg
| caption          = Woolsthorpe Manor with [[Newton's Apple Tree]] in foreground
| map_type         = United Kingdom Lincolnshire
| map_caption      = Location within Lincolnshire
| architectural_style = 
| building_type    = Manor house
| coordinates      = {{coord|52|48|33|N|0|37|50|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| years_built      = early 17th century<br />early 18th-century
| location         = [[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth]], [[Lincolnshire]] 
| address          = Woolsthorpe Manor House, Newton Way, Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth 
| owner            = [[National Trust]]
| website          = {{URL|https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor|Woolsthorpe Manor}}
| module           = {{Infobox mapframe |wikidata=yes |zoom=16|frame-height=260 | stroke-width=1 |coord={{WikidataCoord|display=i}}}}
{{Infobox designation list
|embed=yes
|designation1=UK Grade I
|designation1_offname=Woolsthorpe Manor House
|designation1_number=1062362
|designation1_date=19 February 1952
|designation2_type=Grade I}}
}}

'''Woolsthorpe Manor''' in [[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth]], near [[Grantham]], [[Lincolnshire]], England, is the birthplace and family home of Sir [[Isaac Newton]]. In the orchard within the grounds is [[Isaac Newton's apple tree|Newton's famous apple tree]]. A [[Grade I listed]] building,<ref>{{NHLE| num=1062362|desc=WOOLSTHORPE MANOR HOUSE |access-date= 29 October 2016}}</ref> it is now owned by the [[National Trust]] and open to the public.

== History ==
=== Before Isaac Newton’s birth===
Originally part of the estate of [[Colsterworth]] and still part of its [[ecclesiastical parish]], by the twelfth century Woolsthorpe was a separate [[manorial system|manor]]. It was the seat of various families including the Sleafords, the Pigotts, the Thimelbys, the Burys, and the Underwoods, who in 1623 sold it to Robert Newton, grandfather of Sir Isaac Newton. It was the Newton family's second property in Woolsthorpe and Robert then settled it on his eldest son Isaac as a wedding dowry in 1639. With the property went the title [[Lord of the Manor]]. However, by the 17th century the manorial rights had been largely eroded and the house acted more as a [[yeoman]]'s farmstead, principally rearing sheep. In April 1642 Isaac married Hannah Ayscough and died in October the same year, three months before the birth of his son.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Woolsthorpe|url= https://www.villagearchivegroup.com/woolsthorpe.php |publisher=Village Research Group|access-date=11 October 2024}}</ref>

=== Isaac Newton ===
Sir Isaac Newton was born in the house on Christmas Day 1642 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|N.S.]] 4 January 1643) and was baptised on New Year's Day (11 January) in the nearby parish church of [[Colsterworth#Religion|St John the Baptist, Colsterworth]]. At the age of three his widowed mother Hannah remarried and moved to [[North Witham]] a mile and a half away leaving Isaac to be raised by his grandparents, returning to Woolsthorpe after she was widowed a second time seven years later. When Newton was twelve he was sent to [[The King's School, Grantham|The King's School]] in [[Grantham]] and later worked with the local apothecary. He returned briefly at the age of 17; however, unsuited to and uninterested in a life of professional [[Animal husbandry|husbandry]], he soon returned to Grantham and in 1661 at the age of 18 left Lincolnshire for [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]] in [[Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Woolsthorpe Manor History|url= https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/woolsthorpe-manor/history-of-woolsthorpe-manor |publisher=National Trust |access-date=11 October 2024}}</ref>

Newton returned to Woolsthorpe in 1666 when [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] closed due to the [[Great Plague of London|plague]], and performed many of his most famous experiments there, most notably his work on [[light]] and [[optics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Woolsthorpe Manor – Year of Wonders 1665–1667 |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor/features/year-of-wonders |publisher=National Trust |access-date=19 June 2020}}</ref> This is also said to be the site where Newton, observing an [[Isaac Newton's apple tree|apple fall from a tree]], was inspired to formulate his [[law of universal gravitation]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

=== After Newton ===

When Newton died in 1727 the manor passed to his nearest male heir, John Newton, his uncle Robert's great-grandson. In 1732 the estate was sold to the Turnor family, based at the nearby [[Stoke Rochford Hall|Stoke Rochford Estate]], who leased the manor to a farming family named Woolerton. They remained the tenants for the next 200 years. In 1942 the manor was purchased by the [[Pilgrim Trust]] and the [[Royal Society]] who then gave it to the National Trust for preservation.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Woolsthorpe|url= https://www.villagearchivegroup.com/woolsthorpe.php |publisher=Village Research Group|access-date=11 October 2024}}</ref>

=== National Trust ===
Now in the hands of the [[National Trust]] and open to the public except in winter, it is presented as a typical seventeenth century yeoman's farmhouse.

New areas of the house, once private, were opened up to the public in 2003,<ref>{{cite web |title=Woolsthorpe Manor |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor |publisher=National Trust |access-date=19 June 2020}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2020}} with the old rear steps (originally to the hay loft and grain store, often seen in period drawings) being rebuilt, and the old walled kitchen garden to the rear of the house being restored.

One of the former farmyard buildings has been equipped as an interactive visitor experience of the [[Physics|physical]] principles investigated by Newton in the house.

==The tree==
{{Main article|Isaac Newton's apple tree}}
[[File:Newtons Apfelbaum.jpg|thumb|left|The tree from which the famous apple is said to have fallen]]
Isaac Newton recounted to his contemporary William Stukeley how an apple tree in the orchard inspired him to work on his law of universal gravitation.<ref>{{cite web |title=newtons-apple-tree |url=https://royalsociety.org/blog/2012/02/newtons-apple-tree/ |publisher=Royal Society |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life by William Stukeley, page 15 |url=https://ttp.royalsociety.org//ttp/ttp.html?id=1807da00-909a-4abf-b9c1-0279a08e4bf2&type=book/ |website=Royal Society, "Turning the pages" |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref> [[Dendrochronology]] confirms one of the trees in the orchard to be over 400 years old, having regrown from roots surviving from a tree which blew down in 1820.<ref>{{cite web |title=the-most-famous-apple-tree-in-the-world |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor/features/the-most-famous-apple-tree-in-the-world/ |publisher=The National Trust |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref> It is attended to by gardeners, secured with a fence, and cared for by the [[National Trust]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Isaac Newton's apple tree is still alive after over 400 years |url=https://thefactsource.com/isaac-newtons-apple-tree-is-still-alive-after-over-400-years/ |website=The Fact Source |date=21 November 2019 |access-date=19 June 2020}}</ref>{{dubious|date=June 2020}}

==The village==
{{main|Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth}}
Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth (not to be confused with [[Woolsthorpe by Belvoir]], also in Lincolnshire) has grown from a hamlet of several houses in the seventeenth century to a small village of several hundred houses today; much of the original land once owned by Woolsthorpe Manor was sold to a nearby family,{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} and some of the immediate open land has since been built upon. Woolsthorpe Manor remains on the edge of the village and is mostly surrounded by fields.

== In popular culture ==
* Appears in episode three and ten of the TV documentary ''[[Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey]]'', whilst discussing the development of planetary motion and Newton's work on the matter.
* Appears in opening to episode two, "Wild Blue Yonder", of the 60th anniversary series of [[Doctor Who]], first broadcast on 2 December 2023.
* Also appears in a BBC documentary, ''Isaac Newton: The Dark Heretic''.

==See also==
*[[Isaac Newton's early life and achievements]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Woolsthorpe Manor}}
*[https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor Woolsthorpe Manor information at the National Trust]

{{Lincolnshire}}
{{Isaac Newton}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Country houses in Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Lincolnshire|Woolsthorpe]]
[[Category:Grade I listed houses]]
[[Category:Grade I listed museum buildings]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Isaac Newton]]
[[Category:National Trust properties in Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Science museums in England]]
[[Category:South Kesteven District]]
[[Category:Birthplaces of individual people|Newton, Isaac]]

[[de:Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth#Woolsthorpe Manor]]