The owners of a house named after Darwin – but with no actual link to the famous scientist – have had to put a sign up on their home to help confused tourists.
Roseanna and Ian Lacey, owners of Darwin House in Darwin Street, say a constant stream of people visit their property believing it to be the birthplace of Shrewsbury’s famous son.
A riverside Darwin walk takes tourists past the house and the homeowners say people regularly knock on their door and take pictures of the property.
They have now erected a blue plaque – similar to the official tourist signs – to let people know it is Darwin House, not Darwin’s house.
“It’s really just to help people who come here and we find them photographing our house in error,” said Ian.
“Obviously The Mount is where Darwin was born but local people tend to call it Darwin’s house and so people think our house is the same one. We’ve had a blue plaque put up because there’s an official Darwin walk now which goes right past our house so there are always people coming past.
“We’ve just had so many people knocking on the door and taking pictures. We’ve always gone out when we could to tell people it’s not really the house where Darwin was born,” he added.
He said many of the homeowners around the area have the same problem with tourists who don’t realise where The Mount is.
“There are so many buildings around here with Darwin or Mount in the title, it’s really very confusing for visitors,” he added.
By Anna Williams
