Cottage that was once home to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mum which was said to have helped inspire writer goes on the market for £575,000
The property in North Yorkshire, was once the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mother and is said to have inspired his most famous characters.
THE HOUSE that is believed to have inspired iconic literary characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson has gone up for sale for £575,000.
The beautiful property, near Ingleton in North Yorkshire, was once the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mother and is said to have inspired his most famous characters.
Now Masongill Cottage is being sold by Heather and David Jemson who brought the property 16 years ago but who, at first, knew nothing about its inspirational past.
Heather explained how both her and her late husband, David, had fallen in love with the house.
She said: "We'd been living in Wiltshire, but had got sick got all the trendy types moving down from London.
"My late husband David and I both had strong family ties in the north, so we were on the look-out after he took early retirement from his veterinary practice.
"We were up here for a break when we saw the details of the cottage on the estate agent's window.
"We asked straight away and I immediately imagined a Jane Austen heroine sitting in the pretty garden with her book or embroidery."
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As the sale completed, Heather and David began to discover the property's connections with arguably the world's most famous detective.
From the mid-1880s for 35 years, Masongill cottage was the home of Conan Doyle's mother, Mary and the writer, who was practicing as a doctor in Hampshire at the time, visited his mother frequently and even married his first wife, Louisa Hawkins, from St Oswald's Church nearby.
Sherlock-inspired aspects of the area that amateur sleuths believed could have influenced Conan Doyle includes an area close to Masongill Cottage called, The Holmes.
In addition, an early short story called Uncle Jeremy's Household featured the characters Hugh Lawrence, a young doctor from Baker Street in London and his friend John Thurston, a chemist with an acid-stained finger which are many of the traits traits were later shared by Holmes and Watson.
It's also entirely possible that the name Sherlock was foreshadowed by the Sherlock Window in Ingleton's St Mary's Chruch which is so-called in memory of the vicar's father Randal Hopely Sherlock, who was killed by lightning.
The association of this area with Conan Doyle began when Mary apparently arrived in the area as a 'widow' with her two youngest daughters in tow and took up residence in the cottage at an annual rent of £8.
She was requested to live there by Bryan Wooller, squire of the Masongill Estate, who knew the Doyle family from Edinburgh.
A relationship then sprang up between hum and Mary Doyle, whose artist husband had been committed to a mental asylum after becoming an alcoholic and suffering from epilepsy.
Tales of Mrs Doyle's relationship with the squire abound, including alleged sightings of her leaving Waller's home at Masongill Hall in the early morning mist.
It has been suggested that Conan Doyle erased the years and visits to Masongill Cottage because he was too embarrassed to acknowledge it in his lifetime.
Mary eventually left Masongill and went to live with her son in 1917.
Speaking about the possible Sherlock connection, Heather said: "There's a great lack of solid facts so there's naturally speculation.
"It'll be hard to leave here because it's been such a warm, happy house full of great memories."
There is a lot to love about Masongill, whose spacious living room, parlour and dining kitchen belie the term 'cottage'.
David, a keen carpenter and restorer of antiques, was most excited by the large workshop attached to the house when the couple viewed the house and their offer had been accepted before they'd even began their journey back down south.
The Jemsons have certainly left their mark, having replaced the kitchen, the shower room, bathroom and many of the doors.
They also revamped the decor to make it more in keeping with the period of the house and Heather has worked tirelessly on the large and lush cottage garden.
Heather, who is selling the property to downsize, said: "Coming here was once of the best things we ever did.
"We simply fell in love with a beautiful house in the perfect place within a wonderful community.
"The Conan Doyle connection came as a complete surprise, but it's interesting and we didn't mind a couple of Sherlock Holmes pilgrims turning
