Pieces of Sir Isaac Newton's home up for grabs

Pieces of stone from the cellar are available to purchase from Woolsthorpe Manor's shop

People can own a piece of Isaac Newton's home as part of a conservation project.

It is claimed the scientist, born at Woolsthorpe Manor near Grantham in 1642, observed an apple falling from a tree that led to his theory of gravity.

The 17th Century house, now in the care of the National Trust, is currently undergoing work to replace the second of the cellar windows, with varying sizes of cut-away stone available to buy in the manor's shop.

Jennie Johns, collections and house officer at the manor, said there had been interest from around the world.

Ms Johns said the local limestone being replaced had been there for about 500 years.

The work is taking place due to some of the stone work on the cellar level having "deteriorated over time with cracks forming", she said.

Visitors can buy various sizes of the local limestone, with a donation that will go towards conservation work.

Sizes vary from the "height of a desktop computer or a little slither that could act as a paperweight", Ms Johns said.

"We have already had interest in this and pieces are already going all over the world that have been picked up from here," she added.

Newton returned home in 1665 after Cambridge University, where he was a student, closed because of the Great Plague.

Years later, he told a story that a falling apple in the orchard inspired him to think about the theory of gravity, which he described in his 1687 book Principia.

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