Search for Museums and Paintings

Downe / United Kingdom

Downe is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley but beyond the London urban sprawl. Downe is 3.4 miles south west of Orpington and 14.2 miles south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies on a hill, and much of the centre of the village is unchanged; the former village school now acts as the village hall. The word Downe originates from the Anglosaxon word dūn, latterly down, hence the South and North Downs. In April 1965, it , which was abolished, came within the newly created London Borough of Bromley. The village is in the historic county of Kent. When Charles Darwin moved there in 1842, the village was still known as Down. Its name was changed later in the 1940s to Downe, to avoid confusion with County Down in Ireland.

Down House

Downe / United Kingdom

Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Down. The Grade I listed building stands in Luxted Road 0.25 miles south of Downe, a village 14.25 miles south east of London's Charing Cross, which was still known as Down when he moved there in 1842. In Darwin's day, Downe was a parish in Kent: it subsequently came under Bromley Rural District, and since 1965 has lain within the London Borough of Bromley. The house, garden and grounds are in the guardianship of English Heritage, have been restored and are open to the public.