The Museum

Dating from the early sixteenth century, Milton’s Cottage is situated in the picturesque village of Chalfont St Giles and remains in appearance substantially as it was in Milton’s day.

At that time it was part of the local manorial estate belonging to the Fleetwood family, the last of whom, George, was exiled as a regicide (the Fleetwood coat of arms can be seen on the south west wall). In 1887 the Milton Cottage Trust was established to preserve the Cottage as a permanent memorial to Milton.

Today, the Cottage is a museum and Grade I listed building, and the surrounding garden is filled with the plants and flowers that feature in Milton’s poetry. The museum houses the finest open collection of first editions of Milton’s work. These are available for all to see, and for research, subject to prior arrangement. The collection is periodically augmented.

Acquisitions

In 2008 the Trust acquired a proclamation by King Charles II to collect and destroy several of John Milton’s works.

Two seventeenth century book acquisitions have been a fine copy of the Areopagitica, Milton’s speech to Parliament on the freedom of speech and non censorship of the press, which is to Milton’s prose what Paradise Lost is to his poetry, and Eikonoklastes, Milton’s answer to the King’s defence of the Divine Right of Kings.

The Trust, with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, were able to acquire in 2006 two important volumes including four of Milton's pamphlets supporting his views on religion and attacking the misused power of the Bishops completing the set of anti-prelatical tracts.

In 1998, more 17th century books went on display. Amongst these is a copy of the Articles of Peace, which includes John Milton’s “Observations”. This book deals with the problems in Ireland during the 1640’s.

Paper Conservation and Picture Restoration

The Trust has been busy with restoring many of the best pictures and attending to the books that require conservation.

Refurbishments

Over the past few years the cottage has benefited from a number of other projects aimed at enhancing the museum, garden and exhibits to better promote the John Milton story and to attract more visitors. Thanks to a lottery grant, the Trust has been able to create a new entrance off the street, a small shop area, and ample space for the large library of reference books. The garden is now a pretty cottage garden, which visitors are welcome to enjoy. In what was a derelict corner, a water feature has been built, and overlooking “his” garden is a fine bust of Milton.