The story behind the man

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the future Lewis Carroll, was born on the 27 January 1832, the third of eleven children. His early days were in the Daresbury Parsonage, with his father being Parson from 1827 to 1843.

Lewis Carroll described Daresbury Parsonage as; ‘’An island farm-broad seas of corn, swayed by the wandering Breath of morn, the happy spot where I was born’’.

The Dodgson family left Daresbury in 1843, but Carroll never forgot his birthplace. In 1860, Carroll returned to photograph Walton Hall, acknowledging the importance of the Greenall family to life in Daresbury. Sir Gilbert Greenall (MP for Warrington) of Walton Hall, worshipped in Daresbury church, and his twin brother Richard, Rector of nearby Stretton occasionally officiated there for the Reverend Dodgson (Senior).

It is probable that many of the ideas behind Carroll’s Wonderland were first conceived locally. For example, the idea behind the White Rabbit could have come from the ghostly story of the white rabbit of Bewsey Old Hall, Warrington, home of the Boteler family.

His Cheshire Cat possibly has origins in the carved stone cat on nearby Grappenhall Church, and the ‘Gryphon’, a half-eagle-lion creature, may have been inspired by the grotesque creature carved on the 300 year oak carved pulpit in All Saints Church, Daresbury.

The site of the parsonage which burnt down in 1883 is now laid out as a memorial. There is also a memorial stained glass window to Charles Dodgson in All Saints Church, Daresbury, where his father was parson. The window illustrates many of the characters from the book, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’