The poetess, Elizabeth Barrett Browning spent her childhood near Ledbury, and it was here she began to write her poetry. The Institute, a memorial to her, is housed in the library building and is also home to a collection of books associated with the Dymock poets and John Masefield, who was Poet Laureate in 1930. The Barrett Browning Institute was built on the site of the old tannery and was opened in 1896 by Sir Henry Rider Haggard.