Clare Cottage is a Grade II* listed building in the Peterborough local planning authority area, England. First listed on 15 December 1955. A C17 Cottage. 1 related planning application.

Clare Cottage

WRENN ID
proud-kitchen-frost
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Peterborough
Constituency
North West Cambridgeshire MP: Sam Carling (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
15 December 1955
Type
Cottage
Address
Clare Cottage, 16, Woodgate, Helpston, City of Peterborough, PE6 7ED
OS grid reference
TF 121 053
Coordinates
52.63391, -0.34455
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Clare Cottage is a 17th century to early 18th century cottage located on the west side of Woodgate in Helpston. It is notable as the birthplace of the poet John Clare, who lived from 1793 to 1864. The cottage was extended at the south end in the 18th century and features whitewashed stone rubble with a thatched roof and gabled ends. It is a single storey building with an attic and has a five-window range, with modern two-light casements. There is a right-hand splayed bay also with a thatched roof, and a plank door that has a thatched hood above it. The cottage includes four eyebrow dormers and has stone end and ridge stacks, with the north stack heightened in brick. A stone tablet on the front bears the inscription, "In this cottage John Clare the poet was born 13 July 1793. This tablet is erected by the Peterborough Museum Society 1921." The building is listed as Grade II* due to its historical associations.

Local climate

Clare Cottage sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 88% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2005
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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  2. Dovecote Immediately to North West of No 16 (Clare Cottage) Grade II 23 m
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  5. Blue Bell Public House Grade II 40 m
  6. Number 18 (Old Oak Cottage) and Number 20 Grade II 41 m
  7. Woodgate Cottage Grade II 65 m
  8. Barnside Cottage Grade II 76 m
  9. Tinderbox Cottage Grade II 77 m
  10. Old Vicarage Grade II 84 m