Elizabeth Gaskell’s House 10 Year Anniversary
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Throughout 2025, Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is celebrating its tenth anniversary, having first opened to the public a decade ago. From a close brush with dereliction to being awarded official accredited museum status in August 2024, it’s been an important decade in the building’s almost 200-year history.
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House has to be on the must-see list of every discerning literary tourist exploring the UNESCO City of Literature (indeed it features prominently on the new Manchester City of Literature Map) and was home to the famous Victorian writer and her husband from 1850 until her death in 1865. A Grade II*-listed neoclassical Regency-style villa on Plymouth Grove in Ardwick, just one mile from Manchester City centre, it’s where Elizabeth wrote some of her most famous novels, including North and South.
The journey to becoming a visitor attraction and museum took several years of tenacity and some serious fundraising from a dedicated group of volunteers, who have been gradually bringing the house and garden back to life – Elizabeth’s bedroom is the most recent space to have been lovingly restored and the garden has won several Britain in Bloom accolades. They have created new permanent and temporary exhibition spaces and welcomed more than 50,000 visitors, and they have launched a rich events programme that allows local school children as well as fans all over the world to participate in the conversation around Elizabeth, her writing and more.
If you can’t make it to Plymouth Grove to celebrate with the Gaskell’s House team in person, do check out the series of online events which beam out regularly – this year, some will be looking at homes and houses in Elizabeth’s life and works, while another strand will be concentrating on her novel Ruth, first published in three volumes in 1853. We’ll be posting details of some of these very soon.
To celebrate this milestone, and document its restoration, the exhibition ‘The story of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House from dereliction to delight’ runs until 6 July 2025, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (admission to the exhibition is included in admission to the house). From Janet Allan, who led the campaign to save Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, to Frank Galvin, the self dubbed ‘House Detective’, this exhibition has been created using oral history interviews from some of the people involved and delves into the personal stories and memories of those who played a vital part in saving this piece of literary history. The centrepiece to the exhibition is an anniversary quilt created by textile artist Dr Sarah-Joy Ford, who has been inspired by the stories and recollections shared through the project.
Admission to the house costs £8.50/£7.50 concessions (students/NHS Staff/visitors with disabilities/registered unemployed), and tickets are valid for 12 months – so once you have a ticket, you can keep coming back free for a year. The monthly book sale (2025 dates coming soon!) is included in the admission fee. And we haven’t even mentioned the cake…
