Keswick

Market town in the Lake District. From 1800, the home of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his family. Southey and his wife visited in August 1801 and made it their permanent residence from September 1803.

Llanthony

An estate close to the Welsh-English border, which centred on the ruins of an Augustinian priory. Southey visited in October 1798 on his walking tour of South Wales with Charles Danvers. In 1807 Walter Savage Landor purchased it. He attempted to create a model estate, planting trees, importing merino sheep and improving the roads. His visitors included Southey. A series of disputes with his neighbours, including his tenant Charles Betham, whom Southey had recommended to him, and mounting financial problems led Landor to depart for the continent in early 1814.

Lodore

A waterfall close to Derwentwater and downstream from Watendlath. It was the subject of Southey’s ‘The Cataract of Lodore’, originally composed for his children and first published in 1823.

Lowther estate

Large landed estate close to Penrith. It was the ancestral home of the Lowthers, later Earls of Lonsdale. At its heart was Lowther Castle, built after 1802 by William, Earl of Lonsdale. The Earl and his wife were patrons of the arts, and Southey was their guest on several occasions. In 1823 he published ‘Lines Written in Lady Lonsdale’s Album’.