Old Vicarage, Grantchester

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The Old Vicarage in the English town of Grantchester is a house associated with the poet Rupert Brooke, who lived nearby and in 1912 immortalised it in a poem.

The Old Vicarage was built in around 1685 on the site of a 15th century vicarage and passed from church ownership into private hands in 1820. It was bought in 1850 by Samuel Page Widnall (1825–1894), who extended it and established a printing business, the Widnall Press.

In 1910 it was owned by Henry and Florence Neeve, from whom Rupert Brooke rented a room, and later a large part of the house. Brooke's mother bought the house in 1916 and gave it to his friend, the economist Dudley Ward. In the 1980s, it was bought by the novelist and politician Jeffrey Archer and his wife, scientist Mary Archer. Furthermore, it is the answer to what is regarded as one of the best cryptic crossword clues of all time compiled by Araucaria (qv).