Stop by the former home of Cornish poet Charles Causley on the 9th and 10th of September as part of #heritageopendays. Explore the house that Causley lived in for fifty years – sit at his piano, see his iconic typewriter, and check out his records and book collection. We will be open on both days from 10:30 am – 4pm.
See our Heritage Open Days listing, here.
A bit about Cyprus Well:
Cyprus Well was Charles Causley’s home for 50 years. He bought it in 1952 to share with his widowed mother, and continued to live there after she died in 1971.
The house is marked just near the front door by a large cast-iron lantern, and by a circular memorial plaque unveiled by Sir Andrew Motion on its formal re-opening in 2013. It is a small property, the middle one of three in a short terrace, situated down a very steep minor road (Ridgegrove Hill) just outside the centre of Launceston. The road leads towards the River Tamar and the Cornwall-Devon county border, at Polson Bridge about a mile away.
The terrace is quite old — Causley even suggests that it, and in particular his own house, is named for a nearby spring and its presumed Saxon owner, originally known as Sibard’s Well (see his poem with that title!). Causley therefore suggests that the site itself may date back over a thousand years.
Cyprus Well has now been fully restored and refurbished to modern standards, after a long campaign of planning, fund-raising and organising by the Causley Trust. It is mainly used for the Trust’s residency and project activities.
