I was delighted to read in the Shropshire Star recently that the £75,000 appeal to buy part of the garden at The Mount, pictured below, where Charles Darwin grew up in Shrewsbury is going well.
The Shropshire Wildlife Trust has so far raised £12,000, mostly from members but also from supporters as far afield as the USA.
Darwin, who started out from The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, on his epic round the world trip on Monday, September 5, 1831, returned to Falmouth on October 2, 1836, where he caught the stagecoach to Shrewsbury surprising his parents by arriving at the family home for breakfast.
A Trust spokesman said: “No other part of Charles Darwin’s birthplace and childhood home is open to the public and this slip of woodland would open up a cherished corner of his world.
“The aim would not be to create a major tourist attraction, but to provide a much-wanted place where people can see where young Charles Darwin lived and the landscape that he loved.”
The cost includes buying an acre of wooded land, removing unsafe trees, opening up the views, boundary work and improving the access.
To donate visits www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/darwinsgarden or send a cheque to Shropshire Wildlife Trust, 193 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY3 2AH.
There is more about Charles Darwin’s life and his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury.
Email John@jbutterworth.plus.com to buy a signed copy for £6 including postage within the UK or £7 anywhere in the world.
