Woolsthorpe Manor
Isaac Newton changed the world here...
Without Isaac Newton this small manor would be just another Lincolnshire farmhouse - but in 1665 the plague sent him back from university to this place where he was born. For 18 months Newton worked in solitude, experimenting obsessively, laying foundations for the science of today.
Woolsthorpe Manor tells the story of Newton's time at Woolsthorpe, from his birth and childhood to the discoveries of his Year of Wonders. In the 17th century manor house you can stand in the room where he used a prism to split sunlight into the colours of the rainbow, exploring the nature of light. From the window you can see the apple tree in the orchard which inspired his theory of gravity.
Coming back to the present day, you can discover Newton's science for yourself in the hands-on Science Centre and walk to the village church (not National Trust) where he was baptised. For more than 300 years people have come to Woolsthorpe, drawn by his story to find their own inspiration in this place of genius.
That wasn't all. This farmer's son went first to school and then to Trinity College, Cambridge, and when the plague struck in 1665, came home to Woolsthorpe Manor where he did some of the most revolutionary maths and physics of his age.
The house is small but there's a story of Isaac in every room, from his premature birth to his time as President of the Royal Society. You'll be taken back to the seventeenth century, a time of civil war and experimental science, and discover how both of these affected Isaac Newton and made the work he did echo through the centuries.
Rooms are furnished simply, each one focusing on a different part of Isaac's time at Woolsthorpe. As you walk round we hope you'll be provoked to think about how this complex man saw his early surroundings and grew up to change the world.
