Bedroom where Charles Darwin died to be opened to the public

English Heritage has closely matched the original appearance of the room at Down House, Kent, in the late 1850s

The bedroom in which Charles Darwin died has been recreated after more than a century, and is due to open to the public.

Working from family letters, a detailed inventory, descriptions from the time, paint analysis and research into mid-Victorian interior design, the charity English Heritage has closely matched the original appearance of the room at Down House, Kent, in the late 1850s. Visitors will now be able to see the room where Darwin, father of evolutionary biology, died in 1882, and for 20 years before that enjoyed reading and resting, recovered from illnesses and looked out on his garden experiments from the bay window.