1855 - Whipsnade Zoo's Discovery Centre, Bedfordshire
Posted by: 
greysman
N 51° 50.898 W 000° 32.559
30U E 669255 N 5747020
One time called Hall Farm and bought by the The Zoological Society of London in 1926.
Waymark Code: WM9HWQ
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/24/2010
Views: 1
As the twentieth century dawned The Zoological Society of London decided that it needed to keep and study large animals in more natural surroundings. Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell (ZSL Secretary from 1903 to 1935) envisaged a new park no more than 70 miles from London, over 200 acres in size and easily accessible to the visiting public. In 1926 an ideal site was found, derelict Hall Farm, near Whipsnade village, with an area of nearly 600 acres on the Chiltern Downs. ZSL purchased the farm in December 1926 for £13,480 12s 10d. After restoration Hall Farm house became the zoo's restaurant until a change of use to the Discovery Centre.
The ZSL Discovery Centre is housed on the ground floor of this building along with a ground floor extension. It is a walk-through exhibit showing a range of animal life including fish, frogs, monkeys, snakes, amphibians, lizards and insects.
The building date of 1855 is incorporated into the inscribed stone placed above the main entrance door along with an upper case B below an earl's coronet, although there is a recorded building date of 1846.
For opening times of the zoo see opening
* The coronet of a duke (a silver-gilt circlet, chased as jewelled but not actually gemmed) has eight strawberry leaves of which five are seen in two-dimensional representations;
* that of a marquess has four strawberry leaves and four silver balls (known as "pearls", but not actually pearls), slightly raised on points above the rim, of which three leaves and two balls are seen;
* that of an earl has eight strawberry leaves (four visible) and eight "pearls" raised on stalks, of which five are visible;
* that of a viscount has sixteen "pearls" touching one another, nine being seen in representation;
* that of a baron (a plain silver-gilt circlet) has six "pearls" of which four are visible.