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Darwin's home and workplace nominated for World Heritage Site status in the bicentenary of his birth
Darwin's home and workplace, Darwin's Landscape Laboratory, has been chosen as the UK's 2009 nomination to become a World Heritage Site, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham announced today.
2009 is the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, 'On the Origin of Species'.
Darwin's Landscape Laboratory, situated in the London Borough of Bromley, comprises Charles Darwin's house, experimental garden and the seven kilometres of countryside immediately around his property. It was used for Darwin's important scientific investigations for forty years after his round-the-world voyage on HMS Beagle in the 1830s. It was here that Darwin developed and demonstrated his theory of evolution by natural selection through the study of plants and animals in natural settings and under human management.
Andy Burnham said:
"Darwin's contribution to our
understanding of the natural world is unrivalled. His life of
science was based on meticulous research in and around his home
and the surrounding farmed valleys. These still survive as the
tangible context for his original scientific insight. They remain
- 200 years exactly after his birth - an inspiration to shape the
thinking of future generations on our approach to biodiversity,
ecosystems and the role nature can play in helping people adjust
to the effects of climate change.
"World Heritage Sites are usually associated with cultural landmarks like the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge or outstanding natural landscapes like the Grand Canyon National Park. But it is also essential to acknowledge scientific endeavour and discovery, which are both key components in our understanding of environmental conservation. The World Heritage Committee called for nominations for the World Heritage List to recognise and celebrate outstanding achievements of science and Darwin's Landscape Laboratory nomination does just this. I am delighted to submit this formal nomination."
Leader of Bromley Council, Councillor Stephen Carr said:
"We are delighted that Darwin's Landscape Laboratory is being nominated as a World Heritage Property in recognition of its importance to the work of Charles Darwin. The nomination includes the farms, fields, and woodland around Down House within our borough and will help protect the Darwin legacy as well as demonstrating the importance of rural countryside and wildlife to London's differing environment. Bromley residents will know how special the Borough is and it is remarkable that we can walk in the historic woods and country around the village of Downe, just as Darwin did over one hundred years ago. It is essential that we maintain and protect the natural environment for our future generations" said.
Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, Chairman of English Heritage said:
"English Heritage is delighted that the Darwin Landscape Laboratory bid is being submitted to UNESCO as the UK's 2009 nomination to become a World Heritage Site. Visitors to Down House, near Orpington in Kent which is managed by English Heritage, can see where Darwin carried out many of his ground breaking experiments as well as where he wrote the book that shook the world: 'On the Origin of Species'.
"The bid highlights the importance of careful observation and the need to look at everyday surroundings in a rigorous way. These are as relevant today as they were then.
"A new exhibition which opens to the public on Friday 13 February at Down House will help to bring Darwin and his fascinating theories to life using the latest technology."
The nomination document for Darwin's Landscape Laboratory was prepared by the London Borough of Bromley working in close partnership with local bodies and English Heritage. The nomination, together with those from other countries submitted by UNESCO's deadline of 1 February 2009, will be assessed by expert advisers to the World Heritage Committee over the next 18 months. A final decision on inscription will be made by the World Heritage Committee at its annual meeting in the summer of 2010.
Notes for editors
1. Darwin's Landscape Laboratory is the site where the modern scientific study of natural life was pioneered with the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection. It is an intimate farmed valley landscape surrounding Charles Darwin's home at Down House in the Kent North Downs. Charles Darwin walked in the Downe and Cudham valleys every day and studied them intensely for the forty years of his scientific maturity. Many landscape features bear unique witness to the evidence he collected for his world-changing ideas in the natural sciences that were developed at Down House.
2. Following a five year voyage around the world on HMS Beagle including five weeks observing and collecting on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, Darwin settled in London and then in 1842, moved 16 miles south to Down House to allow him to further his scientific exploration and to cater for his growing family. The surrounding farmed landscape and its varying geology and soil types also enabled him to access, via numerous footpaths and lanes, a wide variety of plants and wildlife, the raw materials for his research and scientific work. Finding everything he needed for his science he seldom left the locality until his death in 1882. The farmed landscape, together with Down House and its gardens were thus his workplace for his greatest period as an experimental scientist.
3. The farmland and woodland management of the two small valleys linked by high ground has been sustained since Darwin's time. There are no main roads or railway stations in the area and it has escaped much of the 20th century development associated with London's hinterland. The landscape and buildings remain remarkably unchanged since Darwin's death.
4. Darwin's evolutionary understanding of human origins set out in The Descent of Man and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals were both written at Downe. They explained our shared ancestry with animals and made a strong case for the unity of the human races.
5. The candidate World Heritage Site, included in the UK Tentative List in 1999, was first submitted to UNESCO as Darwin at Downe in 2006. The Government withdrew this nomination in 2007 following concerns raised by the World Heritage Committee's Advisory Body, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), relating to the outstanding universal value of the site. The nomination has now been revised following careful consideration of the issues raised by ICOMOS and in the light of an expert international expert meeting, hosted by the UK on behalf of the World Heritage Committee in January 2008, to consider the appraisal of potential sites with scientific values for inclusion on the World Heritage List.
6. The revised nomination, Darwin's Landscape Laboratory, fulfils the UK's commitment to support the World Heritage Committee's aim of increasing representivity on the World Heritage List, particularly in the categories of cultural landscapes and sites which recognise and celebrate achievements of science.
7. The concept of World Heritage Sites is at the core of the World Heritage Convention, adopted by UNESCO in 1972, to which over 180 nations belong. Through the Convention, UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of the cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. The Convention required the establishment of the World Heritage List, under the management of an inter-governmental World Heritage Committee as a means of recognising that some places, both natural and cultural, are of sufficient importance to be the responsibility of the international community as a whole. As a member of the Convention, States Parties are pledged to care for their World Heritage sites as part of protecting their national heritage.
8. Nominations for inscription on the World Heritage List are made by the appropriate States Parties. They are subject to rigorous evaluation by expert advisers to the World Heritage Committee: The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for cultural sites and/or the World Conservation Union (IUCN) for natural sites. Decisions on the selection of new World Heritage Sites are taken by the World Heritage Committee at its annual summer meetings. There are currently 878 World Heritage Sites in 145 States Parties. Some 679 are cultural sites, 174 are natural and 25 are mixed.
9. Inclusion in the World Heritage List is essentially honorific and leaves the existing rights and obligations of owners, occupiers and planning authorities unaffected. A prerequisite for World Heritage Site status is, nevertheless, the existence of effective legal protection and the establishment or firm prospect of management plans agreed with site owners to ensure each site's conservation and presentation.
10. In December 2008 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched 'Identifying, protecting and promoting our world heritage', a consultation to examine the costs and benefits, rights and responsibilities of World Heritage Site status, the balance currently achieved between them, and the implications for the future management, promotion and funding of such sites. The closing date for responses to the consultation is 25 February 2009. http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/consultations/5629.aspx
11. Bid partners include: Department of Culture, Media and Sport, London Borough of Bromley, English Heritage, International Council on Monuments and Sites, Mayor of London, London Development Agency, Natural England, Natural History Museum, Woodland Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust, London Wildlife Trust, Charles Darwin Trust and Downe Residents Association.
12. The UK's World Heritage Sites are currently:
Cultural
* Ironbridge Gorge
* Stonehenge, Avebury &
Associated Sites
* Durham Castle & Cathedral
* Studley
Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey
* Castles
& Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
* Blenheim
Palace
* City of Bath
* Frontiers of the Roman Empire
(1987 Hadrian's Wall; 2005 Upper German-Raetian Limes; 2008
The Antonine Wall)
* Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey
& St Margaret's Church
* Tower of London
*
Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey & St
Martin's Church
* Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
*
Maritime Greenwich
* Heart of Neolithic Orkney
* The
Historic Town of St George & Related Fortifications,
Bermuda
* Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
* Derwent Valley
Mills
* Saltaire
* New Lanark
* Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew
* Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City
* Cornwall and
West Devon Mining Landscape
Natural
* Giant's Causeway
* St Kilda (dual Natural
and Cultural site)
* Henderson Island
* Gough and
Inaccessible Islands
* Dorset and East Devon Coast
Press enquiries
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