The homes of writers have an unnameable quality to them, usually comfy and peaceful but also a home of boundless imagination, where fictional kingdoms and foreign lands have been explored within the confines of the house. They can also reflect a time period, through carefully preserved artefacts and untouched rooms. Elizabeth Gaskell’s home (writer of Cranford, North and South, and Mary Barton) is a writer’s home with a difference, here’s a look inside:

Located in the suburbs of Manchester, England, the Gaskell’s house was host to various icons of history including Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, Florence Nightingale and Charlotte Bronte, who stayed at the house on numerous occasions, including a visit where her shyness led her to hide behind the sitting room drapes to avoid interacting with another guest. 

The house fell into disrepair after the final daughter died in 1913, bequeathing the adjoining land as a park. The house was eventually saved by a Historic Buildings Trust who restored the house to the way it was in the 1860s, including commissioning carpets, drapes and wallpaper to the chintz designs the family decorated it with. Original items of furniture were generously gifted to the house along with authentic pieces from that time period. The Gaskell’s house differs from houses of other famous writers and figures from history as visitors are encouraged to touch their surroundings, sit down on the chairs, pick books off the shelves, walk around unwatched as if they are visiting a fully-functioning family home.

The household was made up of Elizabeth, her husband William, daughters Marianne, Meta, Florence and Julia, along with five servants, chickens and ducks in the garden and a cow that was kept in an adjoining field. The house comprised of a study/library, morning room, drawing room, dining room, four bedrooms, servants quarters and below stairs a kitchen and storerooms.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 11 am to 4:30 pm, with a cafe situated in the former kitchen, and frequent events. Find out more at the website here.