Chapter 3: Reminiscences of Turvey Abbey
The chapter begins with a discussion as to why the building might be called an ‘Abbey’ as it had never been a religious house.. The rest of the chapter concentrates on three main inhabitants of the Abbey. The first is John Higgins who acquired the ownership at a young age. The chapter describes his love of the Abbey and the people of the village together with his keen interest in architecture. Mention is made of his considerable artistic skills which were used to record the village and its people.
A considerable part of the chapter is devoted to his son Charles Longuet Higgins, who did much to improve the village in many ways, a philanthropist and polymath. His interests and knowledge covered many fields, Theology, Law, Medicine, Natural Sciences and Astronomy to name but a few. As well as improving the quality of housing in the village he did much to improve education, not just the young but also adults by creating a reading room and museum in the village. Mention is made of his assertion, radical at the time, that Local Museums should only contain artefacts relating to the locality in which they stand.
Mention is also made of his son, Hugh Henry Longuet Higgins who founded the Liverpool Museum of Natural History.
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