Tickets Alert: Open days to visit Pope’s Grotto
In the 1720s, the poet Alexander Pope dug a series of tunnels underneath his house in Twickenham — and 300 years later, they’re open to the public to explore.
This is Pope’s Grotto.
Alexander Pope bought a villa next to the Thames in Twickenham in 1719 and, at some point shortly afterwards, decided to dig a grotto underneath the house. Atmospheric grottos were a popular folly for the rich to build, but while most are little more than small shallow spaces, Pope dug a long tunnel and two rooms deep under his house.
After Pope’s death, the house was sold and later demolished, and it is now a school.
However, the grotto survived underneath and it’s open to the public a few times a year.
In 2025, the grotto will be open roughly twice a month from February to December, usually from 10am to 12:30pm and tickets are available from here. Tickets cost £10 per adult – children go for free.
When visiting, there’s a video to tell the history of the grotto and you’re free to wander around for as long as you want.
It’s not huge, and maybe half an hour would be enough, but it’s a remarkably atmospheric space to visit.
Pope’s Grotto is about a 10-15 minute walk from Stawberry Hill or Twickenham stations, both served by SWR trains. There’s also a lot to see locally, so you can easily make a day of it.
Before All Figure Numbers were introduced, one of the local telephone exchanges was POPesgrove.
Sadly it’s been anonymised to 020 8892.