Elizabeth Gaskell House

Formerly known by its address, 84 Plymouth Grove, Elizabeth Gaskell House is the former home of the acclaimed Victorian author. The house hosts events and activities throughout the year, and its bookshop is hugely popular, selling both new and second-hand books.

The house continues to be a literary hotspot, hosting a Victorian book club once a month, while theatre company Don’t Go Into The Cellar regularly performs adaptations of works by Gaskell and other Victorian writers.

Originally from London, Gaskell settled in Manchester in 1832 after marrying and moved into 84 Plymouth Grove in 1850. In Elizabeth’s lifetime, the house was a hub for some of the country’s most influential cultural figures, visited by the likes of Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë and John Ruskin.

After Gaskell’s death it gradually fell into disrepair and stood empty for over 50 years, until the University of Manchester bought it in 1969. The house was restored by the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust between 2004 and 2011 after raising the £2.5m necessary to carry out the work.