Woolsthorpe Manor, Colsterworth 2010

In 1623, Robert Newton, who was Sir Isaac Newton's grandfather, bought the manor of Woolsthorpe, near Colsterworth in Lincolnshire, where the family were yeoman farmers. His son Isaac followed in the family tradition of farming and it is known that he could not read or write. Isaac married Hannah Ayscough in April 1642, a step up for the family socially, since she was the daughter of a gentleman and her brother had studied at university. Six months after their marriage Isaac died, leaving the pregnant Hannah living in the house at Woolsthorpe with her parents. Isaac Newton was born prematurely on Christmas Day 1642 in the house at Woolsthorpe. He was a weak baby and was not expected to live. Isaac said in later life that when he was born, he was so small he could fit into a quart (two pint or one litre) mug. His life hung in the balance for a week before he was finally baptised on 1st January 1643. 1642 was an important year for science, as Galileo had died earlier in the same year. At the time of Isaac's birth, civil war was raging in England, and troops rode up and down the Great North Road within sight of their house, but, before he was a year old, parliamentary forces had secured Lincolnshire.

© The King's School, Grantham                                                    Page updated  December 2011