Biography | Charles Darwin — Born in This House Above the Severn

People point to Down House when they want Darwin's house.

The house he was born in stands on a bank above the Severn, at The Mount in Shrewsbury.

Charles Robert Darwin was born here on 12 February 1809.

His father, Dr Robert Waring Darwin, built the brick house around 1800 after buying the land at Frankwell.

His mother was Susannah Wedgwood, eldest daughter of Josiah Wedgwood.

Charles was the fifth of six children and the second son.

The building is local red brick, three storeys and five bays, with a Tuscan porch.

Historic England listed it Grade II* on 10 January 1953, list entry 1247658.

The family were Unitarians.

Charles was baptised at St Chad's on 17 November 1809.

He lived here through childhood, collecting stones, eggs and beetles in the grounds above the river.

In the spring of 1817, at eight, he was sent to the day school of the Rev. G. Case at 13 Claremont Hill.

The house later left the family after Robert Darwin died here on 13 November 1848.

For much of the later twentieth century it was used as offices by the Valuation Office Agency.

It is not a public museum in the way Down House is.

A local trust now works to open Darwin House at 2 The Mount, Shrewsbury SY3 8PU.

The pin is the listed building itself.

Photo: The Mount about 1860, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons