David Livingstone Birthplace

About this place

National Trust for Scotland museum in Blantyre telling the story of the explorer's life and travels in Africa.

This National Trust for Scotland museum in Blantyre occupies the tenement building where the explorer and missionary David Livingstone was born in 1813, and it traces his journey from a childhood spent working in the local cotton mill to becoming one of the most famous explorers of 19th-century Africa. Exhibits use his own writings and artefacts from his expeditions to explain both his genuine achievements and the more complicated legacy of his role in an era of European exploration and missionary work in Africa. It's a thoughtful, substantial museum well suited to older children studying this period of history. There's an admission charge, and the museum is largely accessible.

Make a day of it — within 5km