Willy Lott's Cottage
{{Short description|Suffolk house depicted in famous painting}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
Image:Willy Lott's Cottage.JPG
Willy Lott's Cottage (or Willy Lott's House) is a building in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England, which appears in several paintings by John Constable, notably The Hay Wain.
The property is a Grade I listed building, reflecting its importance "as part of the Flatford Mill group" and "its significance in the work of the artist John Constable".{{National Heritage List for England|num=1033438|desc=Willy Lotts Cottage|grade=I}}
The earliest part of the building is sixteenth century. It was restored in the 1920s after a revival of interest in Constable's paintings. It has been renamed Willy Lott's House as that is the name Constable used in his paintings. It is owned by the National Trust.{{cite web|url=http://www.field-studies-council.org/flatfordmill |title=Flatford Mill - FSC Flatford Mill |publisher=Field-studies-council.org |date=2011-09-23 |access-date=2014-03-16}} The cottage was purchased in 1926 by Thomas Parkington; after his death in 1943, the National Trust purchased it from his estate.{{Cite web|url = https://www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/art-and-antiques/in-focus-the-village-and-the-cottage-featured-in-constables-the-haywain-the-great-archetypally-english-painting-214956|title = In Focus: The village and cottage featured in Constable’s The Hay Wain, the ultimate image of English country life|website = Country Life|access-date = 2020-05-27}}
The cottage is located on the bank of the River Stour, just downstream from Flatford Mill in the heart of Dedham Vale, a typically English rural landscape. Flatford Mill, along with neighbouring Valley Farm and Bridge Cottage, are leased to the Field Studies Council, which uses them as locations for arts-based courses such as painting, and as accommodation for science-based courses such as residential ecology trips for students up to A-level.
William Lott
The cottage takes its name from its resident at the time John Constable did his paintings, when the house was known as Gibeons Gate Farm. William Lott (1761–1849), a tenant farmer, lived at Gibeons Farm and spent only four nights away from this house in his life. According to a 2020 article, "Willy Lott himself became famous thanks to Constable, but only after his death".{{cite web|url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/art-and-antiques/in-focus-the-village-and-the-cottage-featured-in-constables-the-haywain-the-great-archetypally-english-painting-214956|title=In Focus: The village and cottage featured in Constable's The Hay Wain, the ultimate image of English country life|first=Kate|last=Green|date=22 May 2020|website=Country Life|access-date=20 March 2025}}
The Story of Willy Lott and his Cottage (2023) has been published by Brian Lott,{{cite web |title=Brian Lott OBE Publishes the Story of the Lotts & the Constables |url=https://www.felsted.org/news-events/posts-page/~board/of-news/post/a-new-publication-by-brian-lott-obe-a-great-read-for-art-historians |publisher=Felsted School |access-date=6 January 2025}} the gt-gt-gt-grandson of Willy's brother John Lott (1758-1827).
File:The Mill Stream, Flatford By John Constable.jpg|The Mill Stream, 1814
File:Willy Lott's House from the Stour.png|Willy Lott's House from the Stour, 1818
Willy_Lott's_Cottage_-_Constable.jpg|Willy Lott's Cottage by John Constable, circa 1820
File:John Constable - The Hay Wain (1821).jpg|The Hay Wain by John Constable, 1821
Willy Lott's Cottage by John Constable 1832.jpg|Willy Lott's Cottage by John Constable, 1832
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commonscat}}
{{oscoor gbx|TM077331}}
- {{NHLE |num=1033438}}
- [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/features/willy-lotts-house-at-flatford National Trust - Willy Lott's House]
- [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/47943 Constable's England], a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Willy Lott's Cottage
{{coord|51|57|30|N|1|1|19|E|type:landmark_scale:1000_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(TM077331)|display=title}}
{{Babergh}}
Category:Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk
Category:Grade I listed houses
Category:National Trust properties in Suffolk