Thomas Carlyle's Birthplace

Thomas Carlyle's Birthplace
As it appeared in 1904
Location	Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway
Coordinates	55°03′33″N 3°15′51″W
Listed Building – Grade A
Official name	Arched House including Carlyle's Birthplace
Designated	3 September 1971
Reference no.	LB10065

Interior

Thomas Carlyle's Birthplace is a house in Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK, in which Thomas Carlyle, who was to become a pre-eminent man of letters, was born in 1795.

The house was built in 1791 by Carlyle's father James and James' brothers John and Tom, stonemasons all.^[1] It is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, registered as a Category A listed building.^[2] Architecturally, the home exemplifies 18-century Scottish Vernacular.^[3] It first opened to the public in 1881 and remains much as it was then. Many of Carlyle's belongings are housed along with a collection of portraits and photographs relating to his life.^[4] Carlyle lived here with his brother John Aitken Carlyle who would go on to translate Dante's Inferno into English.^[5] It was from here that Thomas Carlyle walked nearly one hundred miles in order to attend the University of Edinburgh at the age of 13, intending for the ministry.^[6]

References

1. Sloan, John MacGavin (1904). The Carlyle Country. London Chapman & Hall. p. 30.
2. Historic Environment Scotland. "ECCLEFECHAN VILLAGE, HIGH STREET, ARCHED HOUSE INCLUDING CARLYLE'S BIRTHPLACE (LB10065)". Retrieved 4 March 2022.
3. Scotland, National Trust for (3 March 2022). "Thomas Carlyle's Birthplace". National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
4. "National Trust for Scotland, Thomas Carlyle's Birthplace | Art UK". artuk.org. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
5. Dante Alighieri (1849). Dante's Divine comedy: The Inferno. Translated by Carlyle, John Aitken. New York: Harper & Brothers.
6. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co.