Billy Bragg's guitar auction raises £2,566

Songwriter Billy Bragg has raised £2,566 to help restore the cottage where William Blake wrote Jerusalem by auctioning off one of his guitars.

Bragg said he would donate the proceeds from the auction of his Epiphone semi-acoustic guitar to the Blake Cottage Trust, which is restoring the cottage where the poet and artist lived from 1800 to 1803.

The Grade II listed cottage in Felpham, West Sussex, needs £175,000 for a new thatched roof and structural repairs. Trustees say they want to raise £3m in total.

Blake Cottage Trust chairman Doug Nicholls said Bragg's contribution was "generous and touching".

The songwriter has long been associated with Blake, recording his own version of Jerusalem in 2006 and releasing album William Bloke in 1996.

He has described the cottage as "one of the most important buildings in English literary history".

Mr Nicholls added: "Billy Bragg’s generous and touching contribution to our work is in the great Blakean tradition of imaginative gift giving.

"Thank you to Billy and we hope the successful purchaser will enjoy the guitar."

The cottage was placed on English Heritage's at-risk register in 2021.

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