Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability

The Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability contributes to the public understanding of learning disability through its collections and events. Dr John Langdon Down and his family brought a revolutionary and enlightened approach to the care of those with all forms of learning disability from 1868 until 1970.

The museum tells the story of the Langdon Down house at Normansfield and includes objects from the Royal Earlswood Asylum. On display are artifacts made by James Henry Pullen (1835–1916), a savant known as the Genius of Earlswood Asylum. This includes his ships, a model of Brunel’s Great Eastern, paintings and other objects.

The building also contains a Grade II* listed Victorian theatre. This rare example of a private theatre contains original painted scenery and other ornate fixtures and fittings.

The Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability is owned and managed by the Down’s Syndrome Association.

Visit http://www.langdondownmuseum.org.uk.

Contact Us

Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability
Down’s Syndrome Association
The Langdon Down Centre
Normansfield
2A Langdon Park
Teddington
Middlesex
TW11 9PS
T: +44 (0)208 614 5100

E: ian.jones-healey@downs-syndrome.org.uk
www.langdondownmuseum.org.uk

Visitor Information

Opening Hours

Vary according to season. Check website for details.

Winter/Spring 2012:
9.30am – 1.30pm Saturdays
2 - 5pm Mondays
The museum will be closed on Saturday 5 May

Free admission
Full disabled access
Refreshments, tours, group visits by arrangement

Hampton Wick

281, 285

Exhibitions

Normansfield Conference

Normansfield: Past Present and Future

Saturday 5 May 2012

A conference exploring the history of Normansfield and its collections through historical research, archiving and personal experience.

Booking

For a booking form please email: ian.jones-healey@downs-syndrome.org.uk or call 0208 614 5100.

Delegate rate: £20 including lunch
Concession ticket: £15 including lunch
Booking is required in advance

Presentations from:

Ian Jones-Healey, Langdon Down Museum Archivist
Talk: Creating the Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability at Normansfield

Professor Conor Ward, author of Dr John Langdon Down and Normansfield
Talk: John Langdon Down in Earlswood (1858-1868) and in Normansfield (1868-1896). John Langdon Down was a brilliant physician. Recruited to restore the good name of Earlswood he combined research with clinical care. He identified Down's syndrome and other previously unrecognised disorders. He emphasised the educational value of entertainment, focused on the Assembly Hall. His wife Mary multitasked as administrator, educator and motherfigure.

Lord Rix: President Mencap
Talk: Personal recollections of Normansfield. Our daughter, Shelley, came to live in Normansfield in 1956 - about the same time as the Friends of Normansfield was formed. Elspet and I seemed to migrate to fundraising for the Friends – for both of us were well known at the time for our Whitehall Farces. I will touch on this, Shelley’s move to Oak House and eventually to a Mencap home in Whitton. I will also mention the Sherrard Report.

Jan Pimblett, Principal Development Officer London Metropolitan Archives.
Talk: The Normansfield Hospital Archive 1853-1983. The Normansfield Hospital collection, which is housed at London Metropolitan Archives, reveals a vivid and compelling history through documents and photographs. This presentation will explore the work undertaken to preserve the collection and make it accessible to readers. The scope of the collection will also be examined with reference to some key materials which show the pioneering work of the hospital, the lives and experiences of residents and staff, the final decline of the institution and the enduring legacy of Dr Down and his work.

Ray Elmitt, local historian and author of a Hampton Wick Timeline.
Talk: Normansfield and the local community. The 1891 Census for Normansfield records 319 persons who 'slept or abode at this Institution on the night of Sunday April 5th 1891'. This would have been the biggest single grouping of people within Hampton Wick and South Teddington and this presentation explores the impact they had on the surrounding community.

Sarah Chaney: Bethlem Royal Hospital and London Museums of Health and Medicine
Talk: "Few comunities of the poor have so much amusement provided for them": Entertainment, Occupation and Environment in the Nineteenth Century Asylum. The foundation and early years of Normansfield Hospital were closely linked to the growth of the psychiatric asylum system, and can be best understood with a clear understanding of the way in which such institutions were founded and functioned. The popularity of moral treatment (a humanitarian method, introduced in the late eighteenth century, aiming to "re-educate" disordered minds through environment, rest and occupation) and the "non-restraint" movement of the 1840s were important influences on the model adopted by Down. This talk explores these influences at the Normansfield, Earlswood and Caterham asylums.

David Wilmore: David works as a historic theatre consultant advising on theatre building restoration, nineteenth century staging techniques and special effects of the period. Talk: historic Victorian theatres and Normansfield. David Wilmore will give a presentation which relates to the original "Ruddigore" portraits used in the Gilbert and Sullivan's first production of Ruddigore at the Savoy Theatre in 1888 and now kept at Normansfield. He will examine the history of the original production, the provenance of the portraits and how they were used in the original production.

Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability

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Exhibitions

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