THE early writing career and family life of Lakeland poet William Wordsworth is featuring in a new play, so the Memories Page is taking a look at some of the places he is most strongly associated with.

A world premiere was taking place last night of William Wordsworth, which can be seen at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, until April 22.

The poet and author is played by John Sackville and the new work by the American playwright Nicholas Pierpan is set in 1812.

All is not well in the Wordsworth household.

Money is tight, the children are getting sick, and the wild and unpredictable poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge is stirring up trouble in London.

But much to his sister Dorothy's dismay, rather than penning his next poem and providing for his family, Wordsworth's priorities seem to lie with repairing his relationship with Coleridge and currying favour with London's elite.

The cast also includes Daniel Abelson playing Coleridge, Emma Pallant as Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosalind Steele as Mrs Coleridge, and Amiera Darwish as Sara Hutchinson.

Keswick twins Oscar and Tom Pye-Kendall, aged 13, share the role of Wordsworth's son Thomas, with Theo Fulton, 12, of Bothel, as understudy.

As part of research for the role, the youngsters visited the poet's birthplace at Cockermouth - now called Wordsworth House and run by the National Trust.

The poet was born on April 7 in 1770.

His father John was law agent to Sir James Lowther and his mother Ann (nee Cookson) died of pneumonia in Penrith when the poet was aged just eight.

William has an elder brother Richard, a younger sister Dorothy and two younger brothers John and Christopher.

His childhood was spent largely in Cockermouth and Penrith, his mother’s home town.

Many buildings in Penrith are associated with the poet. He lived with his grandparents, William and Ann Cookson, on the site of what is now Arnison’s drapers in Devonshire Street.

He attended Dame Birkett’s School, which was built in 1563 and faces St Andrew’s Churchyard.

Another pupil was his future wife Mary Hutchinson

Wordsworth also stayed at the Robin Hood Inn, in King Street, Penrith - once was the home of Raisley Calvert who saw great genius in the child.

From 1778 until 1787 William attended the Grammar School in Hawkshead, lodging with Ann Tyson in Vicarage Lane.

The school was founded in 1585 by Edwin Sandys, the Archbishop of York.

Wordsworth then went to St John’s College Cambridge and in 1795 he received a bequest of £900 which gave him the means to pursue a literary career.

In December 1799 William and his sister and secretary Dorothy moved into Dove Cottage, in Grasmere.

In 1802 William married his childhood companion Mary; in 1808 they moved to Allan Bank, Grasmere; then to the Old Rectory, opposite St Oswald's Church.

In 1813 they moved to Rydal Mount, where William and Mary stayed until their deaths in 1850 and 1859.

Details about the new William Wordsworth play at Keswick can be found at visitwww.theatrebythelake.com