As if managing our own garden and an allotment, and various other projects wasn’t enough, I became involved with the restoration of part of Charles Darwin’s childhood garden earlier this year.
Darwin was born in Shrewsbury in 1809, and he lived in the family home on the Mount until 1831. Darwin spent much of his childhood in the garden, part of which was a woodland adjacent to the River Severn. This was where Darwin’s interest in the natural world was kindled.
Much of the garden was built on in the 20th Century, but part of it remains as an overgrown woodland on the steep bank leading down to the river. It is a beautiful location, and with a wealth of flora and fauna, it has an aura of its own. Since I stopped walking to work at the Business Park in the Summer, it has become part of my new “walk to work” as I return from dropping my daughter at school and walk around the loop of the Severn from Doctor’s Field past the Darwin Garden via Frankwell and back home. I had noticed the progress of initial works to restore the garden. Its only five minutes from my house so it makes sense for the family to take part in the restoration.
The land was acquired by the Shropshire Wildlife Trust in 2013.
and further details of the plans for restoring the garden for public access can be found here: Darwin’s Childhood Garden and at a Facebook page.
Some work to begin clearance and install some timber steps had already been carried out by the Trust and a team of volunteers. My first involvement was in answer to a general invitation by Sara Lanyon to help clear a larger area and to create an artwork on the somewhat functional fencing along the perimeter adjacent to the river path.
The plan for the artwork was to construct an interpretation of a sketch of the “tree of life” taken from one of Darwin’s notebooks using branches found on the site, and in the nearby area known as Doctor’s Field.
This work took place on 15th August 2015 and was completed by a small group, including my wife, Julie, and daughter Eliza. In fact, there was a small opening ceremony in which Eliza and another girl cut a ribbon into the garden.
The branches were painted:
before fixing onto the fence:
There is scope to add plant specimens and other artefacts from the garden into jars fixed to the “tree of life” over a period of time. Here is an image of the full length of the art work as we left it.
A bug hotel was added:
I participated in both the art work and clearing of vegetation. It was good to be part of a long term community project, which will hopefully engage with a wide range of people. I don’t expect to contribute a huge amount of artistic input or even engineering/environmental knowledge but I’m sure I can play a useful role.
Here are a few more photos taken on the day, including some shots of the overgrown ice house.
In a later work day on 10th October 2015, a different group gathered to clear another area of the garden in preparation for the construction of some additional timber steps. The steep, sandy bank is quite treacherous. It will be quite a challenge to stabilise this, and then to create paths and planted areas of the garden.
Here are a few photos from that day:
No Time Like the Present 