Home between 1749 and 1764 to artist and social commentator William Hogarth, this small house displays his caricatures and engravings, with such works as the haunting Gin Lane (and the less well-known, more affirmative Beer Street), Marriage-à-la-mode and copies of A Rake’s Progress and The Four Stages of Cruelty.
The low ceiling of the narrow staircase is a head-bumping reminder that the Sergeant Painter to the King was under 5ft tall at full stretch. The house was bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1940, but the artist's mulberry tree survived and still flourishes in the garden (which would be a quiet retreat were it not for the roaring dual carriageway beyond the wall), accompanied by daffodils in spring. Prints and postcards are available from the downstairs shop. At the time of writing, the grounds were closed for building works, but the house itself remains open.
