My First Visit

My first visit.  Volunteer and author Louis Coulson tells us about his very first visit to the Wakes. As far back as I can remember I was interested in Nature, especially birds. To start with, there was A Bird Book for the Pocket by Edmund  Sandars, usefully divided  into Large Birds and Small Birds. I

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We are reopening the house in August!

Gilbert White & The Oates Collections are opening the museum on the 1st August, four months after closing. We have announced that we will be opening the house from the 1st August. The grounds opened on the 4th July and since then we have welcomed back many visitors. Judith Bowles

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Gilbert White statue unveiled by Alan Titchmarsh

Alan Titchmarsh unveiled today (Tuesday 21st July) a statue of the 18th century natural history pioneer Gilbert White to mark the 300th anniversary of Gilbert’s birth. In his speech Alan said ‘You may wonder what on earth an 18th century clergyman can contribute to the way we live today, with

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Celebrating Gilbert White’s Anniversaries in the past

Jo Bailey has researched how Gilbert White's anniversaries have been celebrated in the past, with thanks to the Special Collections at Hartley Library, University of Southampton.  As this week marks the 300th anniversary of Gilbert White’s birth, we thought you might be interested to see how the Selborne Society invited

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Dr. Rosemary Irwin

Dr. Rosemary Irwin A message from Professor Khalid Aziz, Chairman of Trustees Gilbert White’s House & The Oates Collections – 23rd June 2020 I very much regret having to tell you that Dr Rosemary Irwin MBE, Chairman of Trustees of the Museum from 2008 to 2018 died this morning after

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Retracing Scott & Admundsen’s journey to the South Pole

Volunteer Anthony Fogg has embarked on a wonderful project comparing the expeditions of Scott and Amundsen.  INTRODUCTION Over the next year we are going to post a blog, updated periodically in ‘real time’, that takes you back to the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration. Captain Lawrence (Titus) Oates was part

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Gilbert White & The Oates Collections rescued thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Gilbert White & The Oates Collections have been successful in being awarded £47,500 from National Lottery Heritage Fund to support thanks to the Heritage Emergency Fund. Gilbert White & The Oates Collections is a rural independent museum celebrating the lives of explorers of the natural world, principally Gilbert White, the

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‘A man in total harmony with his world’

Gilbert White – “A man in total harmony with his world” – Sir David Attenborough Trustee Philip Geddes explains what makes Gilbert White so remarkable.  Gilbert White (1720 – 1793) is widely regarded as ‘the father of ecology’, the study of the interactions between organisms and their biophysical environment. You

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Flora Selborniensis: Then & Now

Flora Selborniensis: Then and Now In the tricentenary year of Gilbert White’s birth, we are carrying out a project to repeat the year-long document that became the Flora Selborniensis. White made regular observations of plants, particularly when they came into flower, during 1766. He also recorded what the weather was

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Gilbert White & The South Downs National Park

‘The prospect is bounded to the south-east and east by the vast range of mountains called the Susses-downs’ Gilbert White lived almost his entire life in the South Downs; he knew them intimately, travelling often from his home of Selborne in the far North West corner to his aunt’s home

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