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You are here: Home > News > Friends Raise An Amazing 70000 To Celebrate Life Of William Turner

• Friends raise an amazing £70,000 to celebrate life of William Turner

• Date:

  28th October 2008

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

The friends of Green Flag Award winning Carlisle Park in Castle Morpeth have raised a staggering £70,000 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of William Turner, the Father of English Botany.

Turner, also a doctor and clergyman, was born in Morpeth in 1508. He wrote the first ever herbal in English to scientifically describe plants and the habitats they could be found in, naming many species that didn’t have English names, like spindle tree and monks hood, and standardising the names of plants where there were many common names in different parts of the countries, like daisy, foxglove, daffodil. He wrote his herbals so English speakers, especially doctors and apothecaries could be sure of identifying plants correctly for use in medicine. He did all this in a time of religious turmoil where he was often outspoken about his disagreements with the monarchy’s choice of religion and so had to twice flee for his life in exile to Europe for many years.

To celebrate Turner’s anniversary the friends of Carlisle Park successfully raised over £70,000 from Castle Morpeth Borough Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund to put on a huge range of events and activities. These included Turner related art, language and textiles workshops, open days in Carlisle Park’s William Turner Garden, as well as talks, lectures and other events throughout the region from The Alnwick Garden to the North Pennines. Artist Geraldine Pilgrim created a temporary sculpture trail featuring three life size greenhouses each depicting memorable achievements in Turner’s life. Seven miniature greenhouses full of plants were also exhibited at events in Carlisle Park and Morpeth town centre during the summer. Artist Henry Amos has been commissioned to develop a permanent Turner inspired artistic installation for Carlisle Park, and three local schools are taking part in creative projects exploring Turner’s use of language, botanical art and Tudor textiles.

Plant historian Marie Addyman has written a book called ‘William Turner The father of English Botany’ which delves into his life and achievements. This is available to buy for just £6 including postage and packing. Visit http://www.castlemorpeth.gov.uk/williamturner