24 Hour Museum - official guide to UK museums, galleries, exhibitions and heritage
Gateway to Over 3,000 UK museums, galleries and heritage attractions
Skip to navigation
Julia Margaret Cameron's Isle Of Wight Home Listed
By David Prudames
05/03/2003
Image: Shows the large Victorian gabled villa, Dimbola Lodge.
Left: through its former owner, Dimbola Lodge played a vital role in the nurturing of photography.
The former home of photography pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79) has been Grade II listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Of architectural and historic interest, Dimbola Lodge, owned and cared for by The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, will now receive official protection against inappropriate alteration and redevelopment.
Named after the family tea plantation in Ceylon, Cameron lived at Dimbola for 15 years, during which time she received a camera, converted the fowl-house into a studio, built a dark room and produced some of early photography's most striking images.
The announcement follows in the wake of a major retrospective of Julia Margaret Cameron's work at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Image: Shows a portrait of Julia Margaret Cameron.
Right: Julia Margaret Cameron - the photographer caught in front of the lens. © Science Museum/ Science and Society Picture Library.
“Julia Margaret Cameron is without a doubt one of the most important members of the photographic movement,” explained Arts Minister, Tessa Blackstone.
“Her searching portraits of eminent Victorian writers, artists and scientists in many cases remain the definitive images of the today.”
In 1860, Julia Margaret Cameron bought two adjacent cottages from a local fisherman, linking the two with a central tower in the Gothic style popular at the time. Three years later, at the age of 48, she was given her first camera by her daughter and son-in-law and never looked back.
Taking to her new hobby with great enthusiasm, Cameron produced over 3000 photographs of startling clarity and strength in little more than a decade.
Image: Shows Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Left: one of the neighbours, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who sat for the photographer in 1865. © National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford / Science and Society Picture Library.
Among the many eminent Victorians who came to Dimbola to sit for a portrait were her neighbours Alfred, Lord Tennyson and GF Watts, not to mention Charles Darwin, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll and Ellen Terry.
The house soon became the centre of a literary, artistic and cultural circle where guests included John Everett Millais, Thomas Carlyle and Italian patriot, Garibaldi.
When the family returned to Ceylon in 1875 the lodge was returned to its original use as two houses, named Dimbola and Cameron House.
Unoccupied and threatened with demolition, The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust obtained a grant from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts to buy Cameron House in 1993. Shortly afterwards, the Trust purchased Dimbola with support from Olympus Cameras and the house was secured and opened to visitors.
Related Articles
Julia Margaret Cameron: Photographer Of Genius
Her parents reportedly met at Dimbola and she wrote her only play Freshwater about the colourful characters who gathered there, so click on this link to have a look at our top trail of other sites Virginia Woolf pilgrims should visit.
Dimbola Lodge Museum
Dimbola Lodge Museum, Terrace Lane, Freshwater Bay, PO40 9QE, Isle of Wight, England
Open: We are open Tues-Sun 10am - 5pm Plus
Bank Holiday Mondays and every day during the School Summer Holidays 10am - 5pm
Closed: Mondays except Bank Holiday Mondays
Related Articles
Sharing Skills Project Sees Museums Put Paper Archives In Order
Dimbola Lodge Museum Gets Grant To Enhance Its Library
Backstage Ballet - Photography By Mary McCartney Donald At Dimbola Lodge
MGM 2004 Travel Writing Prize - Worth Sixpence A Pint
E-news registration
E-mail story to a friend
Tell us what you think
Bodleian Library To Preserve Digital Material For The Future
News In Brief - Museums, Galleries And Heritage News
Couple's Anniversary Celebrated By Newbiggin By The Sea
Newcastle's Roman Burials Will Reveal More Than Just Bones
Enniskillen Castle Keeps Visitors Impressed During Major Refurbishment
Speedway Hero's Story Told By Museum In Manchester
£3 Million To Be Invested In New Museum Research Projects
Longlist Announced For The Second Northern Art Prize
Tullie House Museum Engages Kids With Online Story Writing Project
Mayor And Museum Make Plans For Weston-Super-Mare Pier
Stonehenge Proposals Go On Show At Wiltshire Heritage Museum
Ally Wallace Artist In Residence For Victoria Baths Manchester
Photographer Captures Visitors As The Brontës At Haworth Museum
274 Year Old Fire Engine Given To Museum Of East Anglian Life
Heritage Open Days In Norwich Promise Tours, Towers and Talks
Skomer Island Webcams Reveal Wildlife And Heritage
A New Plant Species Walks - At The Tatton Park Biennial
Summer 2008 Holiday Ideas At UK Heritage Sites And Museums
Search this site
Home Page
News Page
Exhibition Page
What's On
Trails Page
Website of the Week
Letters Page
Welsh Home
Graphical Version
Copyright © 24 Hour Museum
Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared. Welsh language pages developed with CYMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.