The house in which Joseph Thomson was born is in Marrburn Road, Penpont.
The front, apart from a commemorative plaque, is unremarkable: the back and interior are much more interesting. Between the house and the raised garden is a paved sunken area with the remains of the old water pump and the washing copper used by Mrs Carson, the last tenant, till the mid 1990s.
Mrs Carson Outside the House
This is sheltered by some winding stone steps rising to the upper floor of the outbuilding, which still bears traces of its use as the armoury for the Penpont village militia in the late 19th century.
Joseph Thomson House, Marrburn Road, Penpont
Inside the house are two ground floor rooms, one with two box bed recesses. Above there are two roof space rooms, lit only by tiny roof lights. The staircase is a real surprise - precisely carved cantilevered stone steps arranged in a semicircle: not at all what one might expect in so small a house, but almost certainly the work of Thomsons father who was a master mason. It is on record that he built some of the house, but it is not known exactly how much.
Staircase, Joseph Thomson House, Penpont