Teddesley

Estate in Penkridge, Staffordshire, owned by Sir Edward Littleton. It was the home of Mary Barker, his companion. After Littleton’s death in 1812, Barker moved to Keswick, where she lived until 1817.

Stowey

The village of Nether Stowey in Somerset. Home of Tom Poole, who found a cottage there for the Coleridge family between 1797 and 1799. Southey visited in August 1799, after his reconciliation with Coleridge.

Staunton on Wye

Herefordshire village. Southey’s uncle Herbert Hill had been presented to the living there in 1790 by John Hampden-Trevor (1748–1824). Hill was an absentee Vicar and only took up residence in the parish in 1807 on his return from Portugal after the French invasion. He resigned in 1810 when appointed to the living at Streatham.