Before I start this post I think I need to point out that I don’t believe in ‘Intelligent Design’ creationism. I use the word ‘believe’ purposely since ‘Intelligent [sic] Design’ is a faith concept rather than a scientific theory or hypothesis. You might have noticed from my blog sidebar that I am without belief in any deity of any persuasion. However, I do have a strong interest in historical geology and this has got me involved in a project which involves going back to a time where creationism and geology were strongly intertwined in the UK, indeed to the time of publication of the Darwin’s “Origin of Species”. I’m purely involved in this project from a position of scientific interest and understanding in historical geology in context, not through any belief in the underlying theology.
In Staffordshire, in the English Midlands, lies Biddulph Grange. The Grange was home to James Bateman (1811–1897), a noted botanist who worked particularly on orchids and he created wonderful gardens in the grounds, on the theme of a world tour, between 1841 and 1868. The Grange is now owned by the National Trust and the gardens are open to the public.
Bateman also designed a geological galley to connect the Grange with the gardens. It’s arrangement is unique and it is a marvellous example of intelligent design [in its purest sense].
Bateman's geological gallery at Biddulph Grange
The gallery’s unique layout, trying to reconcile known British geology with the creation myth is best described in a contemporary report by Edward Kemp, writing in The Gardener’s Chronicle in 1862
‘The geological gallery, which is upwards of 100 feet long, is lined with stone and lighted from the roof … Advancing into the gallery, it will be found treated in a way that is quite unique, and is singularly illustrative of the great geological facts of the globe. On the one side, at about three feet from the ground, a series of specimens, showing the earth’s formation, and exhibiting all the various strata in their natural succession, are let into the wall, in a layer about eighteen inches wide; and above this are arranged the animal and vegetable fossils that the respective strata yield … The whole is distributed into ‘days’ supposed to correspond with the six (so called) ‘days’ of the Mosaic cosmogony, beginning with the granites, and passing into the slates, the limestones, the old red sandstones, the coal formations, etc, with such animal and vegetable remains as occur in each. On the other side of the gallery the walls are covered with geological maps and sections, and between a set of seats provided for the accommodation of those who wish to make the matter a study, is a series of tables, on which various remarkable geological specimens are arranged; thus rendering the general effect artistic as well as instructive.’
The gallery is now sadly in a poor state of repair, the Grange was converted into a hospital in the 1930s and the gallery was used a a workshop. Many of the rock and fossil specimens are now missing, either taken or simply crumbled away to dust. Day III (in the image) is probably the most complete. The strip of rock layers are of Upper Carboniferous sandstones and coals (Bateman owned a number of local coal mines), above which were a number of plant fossils from the corresponding strata. This in turn corresponds to Day III on which ‘God created grass and trees’ (we’ll ignore the fact for the moment that ‘grasses’ should be much later in the sequence geologically). Day V is similarly arranged with Jurassic strata and Ichthyosaur fossils corresponding to ‘God creating whales’.
The strata strip covers known British geological history beginning with Precambrian granites (as jumbled blocks) before Day I, moving to layered (ordered) Cambrian strata on Day I. The strata progress through geological time with at the other end of the gallery Lower Eocene ‘Hertfordshire Puddingstone‘.
Here the gallery tantalisingly stops. The end of Day VI is truncated by the building of a hospital ward (now demolished) in the 1930s; the slot for a hominid skull is clearly cut in half. There are no contemporary descriptions of what lay beyond Day VI. It could have been a display of Bateman’s orchids which he believed could only have been created after God created Man because until then there would have been no-one to enjoy them. Alternatively there could just have been a door to the garden – the Garden of Eden. There are also allusions to the ‘Second Coming’ in the garden as Bateman refused to plant any hybrids as these impure creations of man would be swept away during it.
The gallery is pretty much contemporaneous with “The Origin of Species”. Darwin’s work was published in 1859 and, whilst the precise date of the gallery in unknown, its first description (above) is in 1862. Bateman knew Darwin, he even sent him some orchids to work on, but whether the gallery was built as a direct riposte to Darwin or simply Bateman reconciling his evangelical Christianity with known British geology is unknown, but it truly is an intelligent design.
The National Trust acquired the gallery in 2002 and hopes to begin the restoration of the gallery in 2009 to coincide with the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth. Trying to work out what rocks and fossils are missing and trying to recreate as faithfully as possible Bateman’s extraordinary gallery is going to be a fascinating project.
Note that although the gardens are open to the public, the gallery isn’t yet. There will be an opportunity to visit it in September when an open weekend will be held. Details will appear on the National Trust’s website.
