Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth is a hamlet at grid reference SK924245, in the parish of Colsterworth, in the English county of Lincolnshire, best known as the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton. It is not to be confused with the village of Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir, generally known just as Woolsthorpe, which is also in Lincolnshire but about 8 miles (13 kilometres) to the north-west.
Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth is 100 miles (170 km) north of London, and 1 kilometre west of the A1 (one of the primary north-south roads of Great Britain. That road bypasses Colsterworth which grew up on the old Great North Road). The hamlet is three to four kilometres from the county boundary with Leicestershire and six from Rutland.
The hamlet now stands in pleasant rather rural surroundings but it is on the Lower Lincolnshire Limestone, below which are the Lower Estuarine Series and the Northampton sand of the Inferior Oolite Series of the Jurassic. The Northampton Sand here is cemented by iron and in the twentieth century the hamlet was almost surrounded by strip mining for the iron ore. The line of the now dismantled railway which carried the ore away lies behind the houses. The railway's bridge still spans the A1[? clarification needed].
Woolsthorpe Manor, Newton's birthplace, is a typical seventeenth century yeoman farmer's limestone house with its later farmyard buildings. It is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.
References
- Ordnance Survey.
- Geological Survey 1:50 000 Sheet 143.
External links
- Woolsthorpe by Colsterworth page in the website of England's Local Heritage Initiative
- Coordinates: 52°48′39″N 0°37′55″W / 52.8107°N -0.632°E
Postcodes : NG33 5xx
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