Erasmus Darwin House in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

is the former home of the English poet and physician

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...

, grandfather of naturalist

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

. The house is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is now a

writer's house museum Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...

commemorating Erasmus Darwin's life. Erasmus Darwin was a physician, scientist, inventor, poet, and educationalist, and lived on Beacon Street from 1758 until 1781. A founding member of the

Lunar Society The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 ...

, it was here that he received many notable 18th-century personalities, including

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indust ...

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engine ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

History of the house

Erasmus Darwin House entrance in The Close, Lichfield-27Aug2007

Darwin purchased a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

half-timbered building on the west side of the lower courtyard of the Vicars Choral in 1758. From 1758 to 1759 Darwin converted the building into a large Georgian town house of red brick with stucco dressings and Venetian windows. At this time the front of the house was separated from Beacon Street by a narrow deep ditch which once formed the moat of the Cathedral Close. Darwin built a bridge across the ditch descending from his hall door to the street. The ditch was overgrown with tangled bushes, which Darwin cleared and made a terrace on the bank. He planted the ditch with lilacs and rose bushes which screened his terrace from passers by. After Darwin left in 1781 the next owner filled in the ditch to make a driveway from the street to his doorway.

Erasmus Darwin at home in Lichfield

After the Darwins moved into the new front of their house, a wooden bridge was thrown across the ditch and a twin-tier terrace was built, causing alterations to be made to the basement windows. For 20 years this house was the base for Darwin's medical practice, for his scientific experiments, meetings of the

, and such inventive schemes as the construction of the

Trent and Mersey Canal The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middle ...

. Amid all this, the house was also the centre of family life.

Events and exhibits

Erasmus Darwin House recently relaunched two exhibition rooms, with audio and visual interactives. The house is also involved in the Lichfield festival and annually takes part in the medieval market. Heritage weekend has the museum open to the public for free and cellar tours are also available.

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

is a popular event for the house when it hosts its 'Haunted House Night' which includes

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

apple bobbing Apple bobbing, also known as bobbing for apples, is a game often played on Halloween. The game is played by filling a tub or a large basin with water and putting apples in the water. Because apples are less dense than water, they will float at the ...

, games,

facepainting Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or "h ...

, arts and crafts and its freeky food and drink stall. Cellar tours are pre-booked. Erasmus Darwin House has a revamped the 'Erasmus Study' Exhibition Room with a computer microscope, touch screen games and quizzes and other interactives. The parlour now has two armchairs with headphones to listen to poetry etc. and a conversation between Erasmus Darwin and

Anna Seward Anna Seward (12 December 1742 ld style: 1 December 1742./ref>Often wrongly given as 1747.25 March 1809) was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield. She benefited from her father's progressive views on female education. Li ...

after the death of his first wife. The

parlour A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

has been recently restored and now holds an antique

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are common ...

. The room also includes comfy armchairs with headphones where you can listen to

's poetry and ideas of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

Erasmus Darwin House -herb garden-9July2007

Erasmus Darwin House also has a restored

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

herb garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

that has been faithfully recreated with plantings of the period and features a relief sculpture of Erasmus Darwin and incised text on paving slabs leading to the house created by Denis Parsons. The museum has become popular with its Erasmouse Hunt that involves finding 26 'mice' located around the house. Winners get their own woolly 'Erasmouse'. There has been locally noted a few adults euthasiast that enjoy the hunt also.

Museum today

Erasmus Darwin House is run by a charitable foundation and relies on public donations. Since 2015 there is no entry fee but visitors are encouraged to leave a donation. The museum includes a gift shop and sells a range of gifts and books. The cellar is usually open to visitors via guided tours on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Erasmus Darwin House is available for conferences, receptions, parties and weddings. Three rooms are available for hire. The largest is the Seminar Room, capable of holding up to 36 people. The Exhibition Room can accommodate up to 20 people and the Library can be used for small meetings and interviews.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Lichfield Historic house museums in Staffordshire Biographical museums in Staffordshire Science museums in England Literary museums in England Grade I listed houses in Staffordshire Grade I listed museum buildings Museums in Staffordshire Science and technology in Staffordshire

History of the house

Erasmus Darwin at home in Lichfield

Events and exhibits

Museum today

See also

References