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Gilbert White's House And The Oates Museum, Hampshire

The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White is a series of letters based on a journal kept between 1768 and 1793 by clergyman and naturalist Gilbert White. This is one of the most widely published books in the English language. Nearly all White's material came from observations of nature in and around the small village of Selborne in Hampshire. His home in Selborne, The Wakes, is now a museum to his life and work.

Gilbert White took a small area of Hampshire, and looked at it in unprecedented detail. He saw that small things were big things: "Earthworms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. Worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them". The old traditional categories of the world started to fade away in the face of Gilbert White's benign curiosity. The Natural History is full of precise observation, and yet has an unruly air, talking about earthworms one moment, migrating birds the next. On our visit to the house I wandered into the study where the desk is strewn with articles and books, as though its occupant had recently been hard at work. A leaflet carries White's own revealing description of his study. It was a place:

"Where tattered volumes strew the learned ground, where Novels, Sermons in confusion lie, Law, ethics, physics, school-divinity."

 

 

Looking down the garden towards the Hangers

The wonderful garden gives a similar feeling of boundaries breaking down. In the eighteenth century garden design was reflecting a new interest in the natural world. In place of a formal attempt to hold nature at a distance, gardens now started to look self consciously "natural". Gilbert White gained inspiration for his own garden after seeing William Kent's work at Stowe. The one garden feature which seems to say most about the new appreciation of nature is the ha ha. This is a sunken wall, keeping livestock away from more formal gardens near the house. Unlike a fence or wall, this sunken barrier presents no obstacle to the sweep of landscape out into the world beyond the garden.

As he created his garden from the 1750s onwards, White kept his Garden Kalendar which described his activities. Unlike the prescriptive gardening works of the time, the Kalendar described not what to do, but what was done. It was a closely observed record of gardening and nature, and was a precursor of the great Natural History of Selborne. Looking down the garden, you will see rising in front of you the wooded greensand ridge, the Hangers, below which Selborne sits. This is the geographic boundary that made the area of Selborne so varied in its plant and animal life. Within a few hundred yards White could study what were in effect different worlds. The room known as Bell's Library, added after White's time in the house, now displays the original manuscript of The Natural History of Selborne.

 

 

 

In 1954 the Wakes came up for sale, and an appeal was launched to save the house and hand it over to the National Trust. The appeal was struggling for money when Robert Washington Oates came forward. Robert Washington Oates was a relation of Captain Lawrence Oates who was one of the five man team that reached the South Pole with Captain Scott in 1912, and then died on the return journey. Today a collection of memorabilia relating to Lawrence Oates and Antarctic exploration in general is on display at the house. There are of course also displays relating to Gilbert White's life.

The overall theme of the combined displays in the house is "The Exploration of the Natural World". Scott, Oates and their companions travelled thousands of miles in their exploration: White stayed at home. Tellingly, White seemed to make the longer journey.

A Field Studies Centre at The Wakes runs courses on many aspects of the natural world, and caters for over 5000 students every year.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Captain Oates, new interactive galleries are being opened at the museum on March 10th 2012. There will also be artefacts recently donated by Captain Oates' family on display.

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Times: January to 12th February open Friday to Sunday, 10.30am - 4.30pm.

February 14th to March 31st open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am - 4.30pm.

April to October open Tuesday to Sunday 10.30am - 5.15pm.

From 1st November to 23rd December open Tuesday to Sunday 10.30am - 4.30pm.

Open on bank holiday Mondays and Mondays in June, July and August.

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Address: Gilbert White's House and The Oates Museum, The Wakes, Selborne, Hampshire GU34 3JH

Directions: Selborne is on the B3006 in Hampshire, near Alton. Click here for an interactive map centred on Selborne.

Access: Wheelchair users can access the ground floor of the house, the tea parlour and the gift shop. The garden is fully accessible. A non-motorised wheelchair is available.

Contact:

telephone: 01420 511275

e-mail: info@gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk

web site: http://www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk/index.php

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