Rock star's delight at William Blake cottage revamp

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson says he is "delighted" that the 17th Century cottage where poet William Blake lived when he wrote Jerusalem has had its thatched roof restored.

The Felpham home in West Sussex was where Blake and his wife Catherine lived between 1800 and 1803.

The new roof is part of a £3m project by the Blake Cottage Trust to restore the building, its gardens and create an education centre.

Earlier this year, the charity received National Lottery funding to fix "urgent structural" problems in the walls, chimneys, roof and timber.

Dickinson, 67, toured the cottage on Saturday and called the unveiling of the roof "simply beautiful", describing the building as "astonishing".

"It's the wow factor," he said. "Blake lived here, it was where he worked and slept, it's incredible. It's a privilege to walk in and see it."

The singer, who was also a commercial airline pilot and once considered for Britain's Olympic fencing team, said he loved Blake's work, calling it "non-conformist, visionary, mystical and beautiful".

Dickinson said his 1998 album The Chemical Wedding was inspired by Blake's poetry, which he "re-imagined" into metal music.

"I am not sure what Blake would make of rock music," he added. "He might like it or hate it."

He said the poet would have supported anything that would have "broken the 'mind-forged manacles'" - a quote from Blake's poem "London".

The trust hopes to open the cottage to the public in time for Blake's bicentenary in 2027.

Blake, born in London in 1757, was a poet, painter and engraver whose works include Songs of Innocence and Experience and Jerusalem.

He died in 1827.

According to the Poetry Foundation, Blake's works were "largely neglected or dismissed" when he was alive.

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