ENTHUSIASTS of the poet and painter William Blake are optimistic that they can raise the money to buy a cottage steeped in literary history.

Blake Cottage on the Sussex coast was the home of the renowned painter and poet (1757-1827) from 1800-03.

The thatched property in Felpham, to the east of Bognor, which was last on the market in 1928, had an asking price of £650,000 over the summer.

However, The Blake Society negotiated a fee of £520,000 to buy it outright.

It launched an online crowdfunding campaign on September 19 to find the money as it was short of time.

The campaign ended last Friday, by which point it had raised only £93,000.

The backers intend to use this sum as leverage to apply for a bank loan to buy the cottage.

Tim Heath, chairman of The Blake Society, said: “To secure the site where Blake wrote the hymn Jerusalem is a moment of great importance in our country.”

Mr Heath said the society was working on a plan whereby the £93,000 can leverage a loan mortgaged on the cottage to complete the purchase.

The society is instructing surveyors to value the cottage while they are negotiating with The Metro Bank to secure a loan.

The amount raised represents 18% of the value so the society is still appealing for donations.

The society has used the 257th anniversary of his birth, which was last Friday, to kick-start a text donation campaign.

Mr Heath added: “The purpose of the loan will be to buy us time to go down the traditional route of applying to major grant-giving trusts which can typically take a year or more.

“We are confident that given the time we can raise the money required.”

The Blake Society intends to turn the cottage into a place which celebrates Blake, who composed much of an epic poem there, and. according to literary legend, read Milton’s Paradise Lost to his wife Catherine while the pair were sitting naked in the garden.

To say happy birthday to Blake and donate £1, text FEET11 £1 to 70070 from a UK mobile phone .

More generous donations can be made by changing the amount written after FEET11.

Donations can also be made through www.justgiving.com/theblakesociety.