After many years of uncertainty, Wake House in North Street has been saved for community use as home to a host of voluntary and other organisations which depend on it as a base for their activities. 

The three-storey building has been bought from South Kesteven District Council by Bourne United Charities which administers funds left to the town for the benefit of the people and a long lease has been granted to Bourne Arts and Community Trust which has been there since 1997.  

No one would claim that Wake House is an architectural gem but it is part of our heritage and as such should be preserved and the new arrangement should ensure that this will be done.  

The house is the large property on the west side of North Street and is best known as the home of Charles Frederick Worth, son of a local solicitor, who was born here on 13th October 1825 and later found international fame in Paris where he established his famous fashion salon which dressed the world‘s rich and titled women. In later years, the Old Windmill Inn on the south side was incorporated as an extension to the main building, the entrance doorway was moved and a new façade with a central bay window added. 

The building was given a Grade II listing by SKDC during a survey of historic properties in July 1977 which means that it cannot be altered or demolished without special permission from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).  

It was built in the early 19th century on the site of the old Waggon and Horses public house which was pulled down as part of the development, and became the home of William Worth, a local solicitor, after he married Mary Ann Quincy in 1816, using part of the ground floor as the offices for his practice as an attorney at law. The couple had five children, William (1819), Harriet (1821), Sarah (1824) and Charles (1824) who died in infancy followed by another son, Charles Frederick, who was born on 13th October 1825 when the couple followed the practice that was usual at the time of giving him the same name and who was destined to become the Charles Worth of fashion history. 

William Worth had an extravagant lifestyle of drinking, gambling and bad investments which led to bankruptcy and in 1836 he finally deserted his wife and children after his affairs collapsed and they left Wake House to live with wealthy relatives at Billingborough where she was employed as a housekeeper. When Charles was 13, he was put on a stage coach to London to take up a job with a leading drapery firm, later leaving for Paris to pursue his career and by the time he died in 1895, he had become an international celebrity in the world of fashion. 

But his father’s impoverishment had cost the family Wake House which he had been forced to sell and the new owner was William Darwin of Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire but it was later acquired by Gervase Willders, a solicitor, who had taken over Worth's practice.  

Willders' wife, Ellen, died at Wake House after a short illness in 1849, aged 29, and he himself died there in September 1851. His death gives us a glimpse of the interior of the property as it was then because the entire contents were sold by auction at a two-day sale on the premises the following month consisting of furniture, books, a large quantity of silver cutlery and other items weighing 200 ozs., linen, china, glass and fine wines, revealing a Victorian gentleman’s residence of some style with even a piano made by the famous Robert Wornum in the drawing room and a small brewery near the kitchen. 

Two years later, the property was bought by the solicitor Stephen Andrews and remained a legal practice until the early years of the last century when it was sold to South Kesteven Rural District Council for use as offices and during this time iron railings and a narrow strip of garden adorned the frontage and the authority’s coat of arms can still be seen above the bay window. Following the re-organisation of local government in 1974, ownership passed to South Kesteven District Council who remained in occupation until 1993 when they moved their local offices into the Town Hall. 

Wake House then stood empty for a time awaiting a buyer and soon took on an abandoned appearance with a For Sale sign nailed to the front but in 1997, it was handed over to the newly-formed Bourne Arts and Community Trust which was given a three-year lease of the premises for a peppercorn rent of £5 a year. Fund raising began immediately to turn it into an arts, crafts and community centre that was officially opened in September 2000 by Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, who lives at nearby Grimsthorpe Castle, and some restoration was then carried out. Memorabilia associated with the house and with Charles Worth were displayed in the Baxter Room, formerly the council chamber, while the rest of the house was soon being used in its new role. 

Unfortunately, the trust was unable to negotiate a new full repairing lease with SKDC and in 2010 the property was back on the market as the council tried to sell it as a commercial investment. During this uncertain period, the building deteriorated and by 2012 the fabric was in a parlous state with the window sills and doorcase crumbling and the rendering on the frontage in need of urgent attention but nothing could be done until they had security of tenure but such agreement has now been reached with the new owners.  

The trust now sees a brighter future with plans to attract more groups and individuals to use Wake House although their first priority will be to find grants to finance restoration of the building, particularly the frontage on North Street which has become noticeably dilapidated in recent years.