Plea for Shrewsbury knowledge to help restoration of Charles Darwin's home

Glyn Jones bought Mount House back in 2021, and since then he and his family have been dedicated to restoring the property to how it would have looked when Darwin was living in it.

Now the family is hoping to enlist the help of Salopians who may have information or visual evidence of how the property looked back in the day.

Glyn said he hopes to one day turn the house into a museum with a cafe, but first his niece, Sarah Jones, is leading the team on an historical investigation.

She said: "We have started work on the main house, removing the old electric, and repairing anything that needs doing, plus painting.

"We have been working on making it watertight, as we potentially want to have a museum in there at some point. Now, it is the outside work we are focusing on before we can put any of the furniture inside.

"Outside the house on the grounds, there is actually a cottage, stables, a coach house and a bungalow. We are hoping to renovate these but more structural work is needed on them, compared to the house. So we need evidence of how they would have looked when Charles Darwin was alive and living there."

One of the main things they are interested in is the courtyard to the west of the main building which belongs to the property.

"Most of the evidence online and in the archives we have looked through, and there is very little which relates to the west buildings," said Sarah.

"A lot of that information would possibly be known by locals and I reckon there is a lot people from Shrewsbury would know."

The family have commissioned independent historians but they are now at the point where they need more evidence to continue.

Sarah added: "Our knowledge is limited. The perfect information we could obtain would obviously be visible, but we understand that's difficult. But even sketches and any written evidence would be great."

Sarah said the project has so far definitely been a family affair. They are originally from near Welshpool and are used to doing up buildings on their farm, but this is very different, she said.

To continue successfully with the restoration, they would love to hear from locals with any information, evidence, journals or pictures about the Darwin House and its outbuildings.

There are a couple of dates that they are particularly interested in.

Firstly, 1800 when the house was built by Robert Darwin, Charles' father. Then in 1833, there was a u-shaped stable block in the courtyard, half of which was converted into a cottage for the groomsmen. It still exists as a stable and the cottage is still there.

Finally, they are asking for any information from around 1866 when the property was sold, and then split up in 1919.

"The gardens, which were quite big, formed part of Darwin Gardens housing estate built in 1933," Sarah explained.

"Within the garden there was a tool shed which is now in the back of someone's garden which was thought to be Charles' lab, or his brother's. Anyone who knows anything about this would be so helpful."

Any information can be emailed to TheMountRestoration@outlook.com or sent to Sarah Jones, Darwin House, 2 The Mount, Shrewsbury SY3 8PU.

They have asked that people don't send any original documents, but rather photocopy them and reference them with dates if possible.