Welcome to peterboyd.com
Peter D. A. Boyd
The Darwin Garden Research Project
-The Sale of The Mount in 1866
Peter D. A. Boyd
Web version of
BOYD, P.D.A. 2000(b). Darwin Garden Project Part 2 Shropshire Parks and Gardens Trust Newsletter
An article in the Shropshire Parks and Gardens Trust Newsletter No. 3 Spring 1999 provided an introduction to the project (web version).
This article provides details of the sale of the Mount after the death of the last member of the Darwin family to live there.
Dr Robert Darwin (1766-1848) built The Mount at Frankwell, Shrewsbury in about 1800. He and his wife Susannah (1765-1817) had 6 children:-
Marianne 1798-1858
Caroline Sarah 1800-1888
Susan Elizabeth 1803-1866
Erasmus Alvey 1804-1881
Charles Robert 1809-1882
Emily Catherine 1810-1866.
The naturalist Charles Darwin is the most famous of these. Erasmus Darwin 1731-1802 (of Lichfield and Derby) was his grandfather. Susan Darwin never married and lived at the Mount until her death in October 1866.
A 6-day dispersal sale of the contents of The Mount and garden took place in November 1866. The catalogue (a copy of which is held in the Shropshire Records and Research Centre in Shrewsbury) was 65 pages long. The summary on the cover of the catalogue describes
"Important sale of household furniture, hair and wool mattresses, feather beds, bed and table linen, elegant cut glass, sets of rich china dinner, dessert, tea and coffee services, cutlery, massive plated articles, 1120 ounces of silver plate, library of valuable books, turkey, brussels and scotch carpets, window drapery, antique china, pianoforte, valuable plants, forcing frames, carriages, harness, rick of hay, pigs and other effects".
The sale included:-
10 Nine large Orange trees in lots [pots]
11 Quantity of Azaleas in lots [pots]
12 Quantity of Camellias in lots [pots]
13 Quantity of Roses
14 Quantity of Ferns and other stove plants in lots [pots]
15 Quantity of Chrysanthemums in lots [pots]
16 Quantity of Primulas in lots [pots]
17 Quantity of Cinerarias in lots [pots]
18 Quantity of Fuchsias
19 Quantity of Lilium Lancifolium of various sorts
20 Twelve Gloxinias
21 Two large Rhododendrons
22 Quantity of various green house plants in lots [pots]
23 Large quantity of pots in lots
24 Twelve seakale pots in lots
25 Shank's patent mowing machine
26 Garden water engine
27 Grass barrow
28 Wheel barrow
29 Wheel barrow
30 Two riddles and sieve
31 Three brushes and mop
32 Daisy rake
33 Manure tub
34 Scythe, &c.
35 Scythe
36 Scythe
37 Heel rake
38 Four hay rakes
39 Seven pikels
40 Two spades
41 Two spades
42 Quantity of garden tools in lots
43 Fumigating bellows
44 Six mole traps
45 Quantity of perforated zinc
46 Axe, 2 saws, and sundry tools
47 Wire flower trainer
48 Set of 9 tier steps
49 Set of 6 tier steps
50 Eighteen round [? rung] ladder
51 Twenty rung ladder
52 Twenty-six rung ladder
53 Set of 10 tier steps
54 Grindstone and frame
55 Quantity of flower trainers in lots
56 Lot of fire wood
57 Pair of plaister [plaster] vases on pedastals [pedestals]
58 One light forcing frame
59 Six feet ten inch wood garden seat, with back and elbows
60 Five feet six garden seat
61 Six feet six garden seat
62 Five feet 10in. painted garden seat
63 Iron garden roll
64 Stone garden roll
65 One light forcing frame
66 Four light forcing frame
67 Three light forcing frame
68 Four hand glasses
69 Two water pans
70 Two water pans
71 Two water pans
72 Seventy-six feet of 4 inch iron piping
73 Five feet 7in. iron garden seat
74 Six feet iron garden seat with wood seat and back
75 Two wicker garden chairs
76 Four Windsor garden chairs
The insertions in square brackets [ ] are my interpretation of what I take to be misprints - the catalogue contains a multitude of misprints. Although the auction for The Mount itself was advertised to be sold on 30th November 1866 it does not seem to have been sold then and was advertised for auction again on 15th August 1867.
The particulars and a plan of the property have survived and are preserved in the Shropshire Records and Research Centre.
Particulars and Plan of a very valuable freehold Mansion House and Grounds, gardener's house, building sites and land to be sold by auction by Mr William Hall at the George Hotel, Shrewsbury on Thursday, August 15th 1867 at Four o'clock in the afternoon Messrs. Salt and Sons, Solicitors, Shrewsbury
Particulars
Lot 1 MANSION HOUSE, called "THE MOUNT", Shrewsbury, containing Dining Room, Drawing Room, Morning Room opening into Conservatory, Library, Fourteen Bedrooms with suitable Dressing Rooms, Kitchens and all usual offices, ample Cellaring, very extensive Stabling, Coach Houses, &c., Conservatories, Fernery, Forcing Frames, extensive walled Garden, Pleasure Grounds, and adjoining piece of Land, the whole containing 37,752 square yards, or 7a. 3r. 8p., and standing in an elevated position on the Banks of the River Severn, commanding extensive and beautiful scenery, and fit for the immediate reception of any family, and lately occupied by Miss Darwin.
Lot 2 GARDENER'S HOUSE with Garden attached, Coach-house, Stable, &c., comprising 320 square yards, in the immediate vicinity of Lot 1. [In the event of Lot 1, as previously laid out, not being sold, the property will be divided into the following Lots:- ------------]
The plan which accompanied the particulars shows four or five glasshouses: a 'conservatory' leading off the house, a 'plant stove' (presumably for tropical plants), 'vineries' and, in the walled kitchen garden, a 'greenhouse'. The kitchen garden also had a 'tool house' and 'shed'. There was a concentric circular parterre with an adjacent summerhouse and another summerhouse closer to the house. There was an Ice House on the slope facing the River Severn. It should be remembered that the Mount was not just a house and garden but was also the 'Home Farm' for the far more extensive Darwin properties.
Peter D. A. Boyd,
Darwin Garden Project,
c/o Shrewsbury Museums Service,
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (Rowley's House)
Barker Street,
Shrewsbury SY1 1QH
Tel. 01743 361196
Fax. 01743 358411
e-mail: peterboyd@shrewsbury-atcham.gov.uk
Note: An edited version of this article has also been included in the large database-driven 'Darwin Country' website for which Peter Boyd is responsible. The following link will open the relevant page in Darwin Country which provides access to other pages about the Darwin Family and Shrewsbury:-
http://www.darwincountry.org/category.php3?trail=2851