Helpston

While Clare was being feted there, his pregnant lover, Martha "Patty" Turner, was in Helpston.

A Most Prolific Peasant Poet 2009

The poet's village of Helpston was his natural world and is essential to his fame.

A Most Prolific Peasant Poet 2009

He was born into a barely literate, impoverished peasant family of farm laborers in the village of Helpston, Northamptonshire.

A Most Prolific Peasant Poet 2009

Anyone wanting to support the appeal should send cheques, made payable to the Langdyke Countryside Trust Appeal, to 18 Heath Road, Helpston, Peterborough, PE6 7EG, or visit the website:

Swaddywell Pit and Torpel Manor Field 2008

Meanwhile, Swaddywell Pit - which was immortalised in the poetry of Helpston wordsmith John Clare - is home to thousands of orchids.

Swaddywell Pit and Torpel Manor Field 2008

If the necessary funds are obtained by March 1, 2009, the Langdyke Countryside Trust will purchase Swaddywell Pit and Torpel Manor Field, close to Helpston.

Swaddywell Pit and Torpel Manor Field 2008

The latter received notice at the beginning of May that he might remove in the course of the month to a pretty and substantial cottage which his lordship had erected for him at the hamlet of Northborough, three miles from Helpston, nearer to the Peterborough Great Fen.

The Life of John Clare Martin, Frederick, 1830-1883 1865

It was Patty, who had heard from the charitable Helpston people that her husband was lying on the road, and had come in search of him.

The Life of John Clare Martin, Frederick, 1830-1883 1865

At last there passed a cart, containing some persons from Helpston.

The Life of John Clare Martin, Frederick, 1830-1883 1865

The offer was a very favourable one, and the more so as freehold property was extremely scarce at Helpston, the ground being, as in most agricultural counties, the property of a few large landowners.

The Life of John Clare Martin, Frederick, 1830-1883 1865