Woolsthorpe Manor

A recent day out saw us visit Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, famous because it's the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton.

Near Grantham in the village of Woolathorpe-by-Closterworth this manor house was originally a yeoman farmstead.

Isaac was born here on 25th December 1642 and spent his childhood on the farm exploring all around. Inside it's quite a large dwelling with a huge kitchen and parlour. The original doors were amazing, imagine who in the last 400 years has touched them as they walked through.

Isaac Newton was very clever from a young age and went to University at Cambridge. He returned to Woolsthorpe in 1666 when the University closed due to the plague.

He continued his work, some of his etchings are still on the bedroom walls. It is here that Isaac began to question how and why an apple falls down from its tree.

The original tree is still in the orchard but not surprisingly is now needing support. It was observing an apple falling from this tree that led to Isaac Newton discovering the laws of gravity.

In 2015 Major Tim Peake took some pips from the original tree into space on his Principia voyage on the International Space Station. 

One of these pips has now been planted in the orchard and is growing well. I wonder what Isaac Newton would have thought about man travelling into space and orbiting Earth. 

Thank you National Trust for upkeeping this important Grade I listed building that is so important to our scientific world, we had a superb guided visit.