Shrewsbury : Birthplace and Childhood - 1809 to 1825
Charles
Robert Darwin was born in the town of Shrewsbury, England on February
12th 1809 and this picturesque, well-maintained medieval town is much
the same today as it would have been in Darwin's time. The portion of
Shrewsbury known as “Old Town” is almost completely surrounded by a
horseshoe-shaped bend in the River Severn, as shown in this aerial view
of the town below (Figure1). The English Bridge is to the lower right
and the Kingsland Bridge is to the left while the Welsh Bridge is at
the center-top of this photograph. In addition there are foot bridges
across the river at several points.
The
only home that Charles Darwin knew from the time he was born until he
returned from his five-year trip around the world on the Beagle
at the age of 29, was his family home right here in Shrewsbury. In
chronological order, here are the places in Shrewsbury that were
important in Darwin's life. We will visit each of these buildings in
greater detail below. Darwin was born in the family home, known as The
Mount or Mount House, on February 12 th, 1809. The home was built by
his father, on a bluff overlooking the River Severn, and is located at
the top, center-left (A) in Figure 1. On November the 15th, 1809, in
the same year as he was born, Charles was baptized in Saint Chad's
Anglican Church (B). However his mother, the former Susannah Wedgwood,
who was a Unitarian, took him as a young child with her to the
Unitarian Church on High Street, near the center of town (C). Reverend
Case was the minister of the church and also ran an elementary School
at 13 Claremont Hill (D), which is close to St. Chad's Church. At the
age of eight, Charles was enrolled in Rev. Case's school by his mother
but attended this school for only one year. Unfortunately during this
year his mother died and he was enrolled at Doctor Samuel Butler's
school (E) also known as the Shrewsbury School.
At
age 16 his father Robert enrolled him at Edinburgh University and,
while Charles would return to the family home as a college student and
also returned there after his five-year voyage around the world, he
never lived at The Mount permanently again after leaving for Edinburgh.
Other
familiar places in Shrewsbury that would have been familiar to Darwin
are the Train Station (F), the Shrewsbury Castle (G), and Shrewsbury
Abby just over the English Bridge to the right, beyond the edge of the
photo. Two additional places that deserved to be mentioned, even though
they had not been built in Darwin's time, are the new Shrewsbury
School across the Kingsland Bridge (H), and up the hill
overlooking the River Severn from the South, and the “Darwin” Shopping
Center (I) in the middle of town on Castle Street. The campus at the
new secondary school is attractive, consisting of a number of handsome
redbrick buildings. The reason for mentioning it however is that there
is a large statue of Darwin on campus in front of the Administration
building. He is depicted as an energetic and active young man on the
Galapagos Islands, with iguanas and other creatures around his feet.
The Shopping Center is large and modern – an asset to the town that
recognizes their most famous son with a month-long “Darwin Festival” which takes place throughout February each year!
The Mount
The
hill, overlooking the River Severn that Robert Darwin purchased to
build his home on was referred to as The Mount and once the house was
finished in 1800 it became known as The Mount House. Figure 2, is a
plot map of the Darwin property, looking north as it appeared when the
family lived there from 1800 to 1866 when it was put up for auction
soon after his sister Susan, who lived there all of her life, died.
The numbered buildings on the property map are as follows (1) Farm
Buildings; (2) Laundry; (3) Dairy; (4) Poultry; (5) Coal Bin; (6)
Piggery; (7) Conservatory; (8) Plant Store; (9) Green House; (10) Tool
Shed. The other buildings on the property are labeled.
Currently access to the Darwin Family home in Shrewsbury is restricted however, an effort by the newly formed Darwin Birthbplace Society
is being made to acquire it, in order to preserve Charles Darwin's
heritage for the future. To learn more about this project and to
participate go to their homepage.
To
visit the home, one crosses the Welsh Bridge and proceeds up the hill
on Frankwell St. towards The Mount House, you cannot see the house from
the street because there is a high retaining wall that fronts the
property. However, as you turn to the right into the driveway near the
top of the hill, there is a plaque (Figure 3) attached to the stone wall
in commemoration of
Continuing
around to the right the wall changes from stone to red brick and the
large, red brick home comes into view on your left (Figure 4). An
expansive lawn, with large trees is on your right as you approach the
front of the home. It is an imposing three-story building, with single
story extensions on each end.
Beyond
the extension of the house, to the West, is a rather large "Stable-Yard" (see Figure 2) that was part of the original building built
in 1800. This yard was used to ready the horses and/or carriage for use
by the family and for other farm related activities. It was enclosed by
farm buildings at the West end, farthest from the main house and the
farm itself stretched out to the West beyond the buildings. Along the
North side of the enclosure there is a laundry, and a dairy where the
milk, cream and cheese were kept cool with ice from the ice-house. Ice
was harvested from the river during the winter and stored in the
ice-house below the home on the riverbank, for use of the household
during the rest of the year. Along the front side of the yard there
were structures for poultry, coal and a piggery where pigs were
slaughtered and made ready for the family table. A door from the
stable-yard opens into the kitchens and the servants quarters, all of
which were located in the one-story portion of the house at the West
end of the three story portion of the home.
Charles
Darwin's father, Robert Waring Darwin was a physician and built the
home in 1800 just after his marriage to Susannah Wedgwood, daughter of
the famous porcelain manufacture Josiah Wedgwood. Doctor Darwin ran his
medical practice from his home and the patients came to the front door
of the house and waited to see the doctor in the room immediately to
the left of the entryway. Doctor Darwin's office and surgery were to
the left of the waiting room and the surgery was across the hall to the
back of the house.
The
second floor of the main house was a series of bedrooms and one of them
served as the nursery where all the children were born, including
Charles. The window to this room can be seen in Figure 5, off to the
upper left corner of the front entry way. Figure 6 is of the fireplace
in this room.
Saint Chad's Anglican Church and the Dingle Gardens
On
November the 15th, 1809, when Charles was only nine months old, he was
baptized in Saint Chad's Anglican Church (Figure 7), where his father was
a member. The church is situated on one of the highest points in Old
Town Shrewsbury and overlooks the wide Water Gardens to the west of the
building which now contains the beautiful Dingle Gardens (Figure9). Only
a few churches in England were ever built with round auditoriums and
Saint Chad's is one of them. This feature can be seen in Figure 8,
where the view is from the South across the cemetery at the side of the
church. The round sanctuary is to the far right in the photograph. Even
though Dr. Robert Darwin was a long-time member of this church he and
his wife Susannah are buried at Montford Parish Church, a few miles north west
of the Shrewsbury.
When Charles was a
boy the place on the water gardens where the Dingle Gardens are now
located was a quarry and he recalls going there to collect things from
the water (see The Unitarian Church and Reverend Case’s School).
Today
the quarry has been transformed into the Dingle Gardens, a sight to
behold with brilliant flowerbeds,(Figure 10), walkways, (Figure 11) and
fountains in the center of flowing water, all surrounded by beautiful
trees. A truly enchanted and romantic place!
The Unitarian Church and Reverend Case’s School
As
a young child, his mother, the former Susannah Wedgwood, took Charles
to the Unitarian Church (Figures.12 and 13) on High Street near the center
of town, where she was a member.
This attractive building has a plaque commemorating Charles as a member who attended regularly as a youth (Figure 14).
During
this period, Reverend Case was the pastor at the Unitarian Church and
he also ran a school at 13 Claremont Hill St. (Figure 16) next-door to
St. Chad’s Church, where Charles was enrolled by his mother in 1816.
The view down the hill on Claremont St. across town to the St. Alkmund
Church (Figure15) would have been a familiar sight to Charles as he came and went
from the school. The rear windows of the school looked out onto the
cemetery at St. Chad’s church (Figure 17). In his autobiography Charles
recalls a number of events during this school year including the dogs
in Barker St., newts in the quarry, fruit in the garden, monstrous
fables, and the burial of a “dragoon-soldier.”
The following quotes are taken from Darwin's autobiography and they recall the insedents mentioned above in his own words.
“In 1817, when I was 8½ years old, I attended Mr. Case's School. I
remember how very much I was afraid of meeting the dogs in Baker St.
and how at school I could not get up my courage to Figureht. I was very
timid by nature. I remember I took great delight at school in fishing
for newts in the quarry pool. I had thus young formed a strong taste
for collecting, chiefly seals, franks and also pebbles and minerals.
About this time, I sometimes stored fruit for the sake of eating it;
and one of my schemes was ingenious. The kitchen garden was kept locked
in the evening, and was surrounded by a high wall, but by the aid of
neighboring trees I could easily get on the coping. I then fixed a long
stick into the hole at the bottom of a rather larger flower-pot, and by
dragging this upwards pulled off peaches and plums, which fell into the
pot and the prizes were thus secured.
One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in my
mind, and I hope that it has done so from my conscience having been
afterwards sorely troubled by it; it is curious as showing that
apparently I was interested at this early age in the variability of
plants! I told another little boy (I believe it was Leighton, who
afterwards became a well-known botanist) that I could produce variously
coloured Polyanthus and Primroses by watering them with certain
coloured fluids, which was of course a monstrous fable, and had never
been tried by me. I may here also confess that as a little boy I was
much given to inventing deliberate falsehoods, and this was always done
for the sake of causing excitement.
I
remember clearly only one other incident during the year whilst at Mr.
Case’s daily school-namely, the burial of a dragoon-soldier; and it is
surprising how clearly I can still see the horse with the man’s empty
boot and carbine suspended to the saddle, and the firing over the
grave (Figure17) This scene deeply stirred whatever poetic fancy there was
in me.”
After
his mother’s death in July 1817, his older sisters, particularly
Caroline continued to take him to the Unitarian Church and to see to
his continuing education. However, later that year it was his father
who, enrolled him in Doctor Butler's Shrewsbury school.
“My
mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years old, and
it is odd that I can remember hardly anything about her except her
death-bed, her black velvet gown, her curiously constructed work-table
and one or two walks with her. I have no distinct remembrances of any
conversations, and those only of very trivial nature. I do remember her
saying ‘if she did ask me to do something, which I said she had, it was
solely for my good.”
Dr. Butler’s Shrewsbury School
Doctor
Butler’s Shrewsbury school (Figure18) was considered a very fine
institution at that time. However Charles was not very complementary
about what the curriculum there had done for his mind.
“In
the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler’s great school in Shrewsbury,
and remained there for seven years till mid-summer 1825, when I was
sixteen years old. Nothing could have been worse for the development of
my mind than Dr. Butler’s school, as it was strictly classical, nothing
else being taught except a little ancient geography and history. The
school as a means of education to me was simply a blank.”
Robert
Darwin was not pleased with Charles’ lack of application to his school
work and when Charles exchanged his passion for chemistry for that of
game shooting at age 15, his father finally exploded saying, "You care
for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a
disgrace to yourself and all the family."
This
handsome building (Figure 18) is now the city library and is very modern
inside. Some of the heavy timber, used in the original construction has
been left exposed so that visitors can see its interesting
conFigureuration (Figures 19 & 20).
Not
withstanding Charles’s misgivings about his education at his former
school, there is a now a statue of him promiment placed at the entry to
the building (Figure 21). He is sitting in a likeness of the chair he used
for so many years in his study at Down House where it can still be
seen. Charles attended Dr. Butler’s school until he was 16, when his
father enrolled him in Edinburgh University to study to become a
physician.
A large number of the
buildings still standing in Shrewsbury would have been there in
Darwin's day and, for the most part, they have been kept in excellent
repair. Some of the more prominent structures would have been the train
station and Shrewsbury Castle (Figure 22) both of which are at the
Northern end of the Old City not far from Dr. Butler's school and the
castle can also be seen in Figure 21 across form the school.
Shrewsbury
Abby, (Figure 23) is an imposing structure a short way beyond the English
Bridge to the east of the town. This structure dates to before King
Henry VII and it was severely damaged as a result of his decree that
all Catholic Abbeys were to be destroyed. Evidence of the distruction
can be seen in Figure 24 note the raged bricks where a large portion of
the Abby has been remore as a result of King Henry's decree.
Although
the New Shrewsbury School was not in existence until more recently one
should take the time to visit this campus across the Kingston Bridge
and up the winding street to the top of the hill on the South side of
town. There are several attractive red brick buildings on campus and in
front of the administrative building to your right as you enter the
well-manicured grounds there is a very attractive statue of a younger
Charles Darwin depicted in action on the Galapagos Islands with iguanas
and other familiar creatures that he studied there (Figure 25).
The
most recent addition to the Darwin Legacy in Shrewsbury is the naming
of a modern shopping center for him on Pride Hill, near the center of
Old Town (Figure 26).
In conclusion it should be
said that visitors to Shrewsbury will find that one can easily walk to
all the sites important to Darwin’s life here and each is no more than
a fifteen minute walk from the center of this charming town where the
man who influenced modern thought so profoundly, was born.
Sources and Further Reading:
Charles Darwin - The Power of Place, Janet Browne, 2002
Charles Darwin - Voyaging, Janet Browne, 1995
Darwin Day Collection One, Amanda Chesworth, 2002
Baruch College - http://darwin.baruch.cuny.edu/biography/index.html
Darwin Country - http://www.darwincountry.org/
AboutDarwin.com - http://www.aboutdarwin.com/
World of Dawkins - http://www.world-of-dawkins.com/
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