The Enys family have lived at Enys, which lies on the northern outskirts of Penryn, Cornwall, since the reign of Edward I, according to the website of the Enys Trust. The 1709 edition of Camden's Magna Britannia mentioned that Enys was noted for its fine gardens. [1]
The Enys Trust was formed in 2002 as a charity in order to secure the long-term future of the garden at Enys, near Penryn in Cornwall, and to open the garden to the public. In 2013 the house was opened to the public for the first time. [2]
John Enys greatly enriched Enys with seeds and plants he regularly sent home from New Zealand and Patagonia.
The lakes in the lower valley have a water wheel which raised water to the house. The scenery created here has been much photographed over the years. In Spring the bluebells in the parkland, known as Parc Lye, are a sight to behold. This area is believed to be undisturbed since ancient times, and contains many trees of a great age. The formal gardens still contain plants shrubs and trees from the J D Enys Collection, and the Estate also has a fine collection of bamboos comprising a number of very rare varieties.
Probably the most valuable asset to the garden is its microclimate. It is virtually frost free, and this, together with the mild and temperate influence of the Gulf Stream, enables many tender plants and trees to flourish. One of the most important of these is the "Peruvian Laurel", one of the few specimens growing in England today. There is also a Maidenhair tree, ( Ginkgo biloba ) which is said to be the tallest specimen outside Kew Gardens.
Samuel Enys represented Penryn in Parliament in 1660.
The family has supplied the Duchy of Cornwall with several High Sheriffs and the Quarter Sessions with many J.P.s
Samuel Enys and his son Valentine were merchants, trading between the river Fal and Spain. [5]
Samuel was a younger son (his father was also called Samuel Enys). He was a highly successful merchant and was able to buy back the Enys family's land, that had to be sold and mortgaged during the first half of the 17th-century. He also built a large house on the waterfront at Penryn. He married Elizabeth Pendarves and they had four sons, Samuel (again), John, Valentine and Richard. They were trained as merchants. [6]
Valentine Enys (1653–1719) was the third of four sons of Samuel and Elizabeth. He was a merchant, who exported salted pilchards to the Canary Islands and imported Canary wine. Extracts from his letter-book have been published. [5] June Palmer, the editor of the book, placed a transcript of all the letters, other than those in the Spanish language in the Cornwall Record Office. The Letter-book remains in private hands. The publication is a remarkable source for maritime history and the life of a remarkable Cornishman.
John Enys (17 December 1757 – 30 July 1818), son of John Enys and Lucy Basset, was British soldier during the American Revolution and the War with France.
John Samuel Enys was born 21 September 1796, son of Samuel Hunt and Luce Ann Enys, his wife, the daughter of Samuel Enys. In 1813, his mother reverted her name from Hunt to Enys, after the death of her husband. [7] He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1824. In 1833 John Samuel Enys engaged Henry Harrison, [8] a London architect, to produce designs for the garden as well as the house. Amongst these features was the Ladies Garden, later called the Flower Garden" [1]
He married, on 17 April 1834 Catherine Gilbert, eldest daughter of Davies Gilbert (1767–1839), a President of the Royal Society and Mary Ann Gilbert (c. 1776 – 26 April 1845), his wife. They had three sons- the second being the naturalist John Davies Enys (11 October 1837 – 7 Nov 1912; see below) [9] - and two daughters. [10] None of the sons married. On August 28, 1860, [11] Jane Mary Enys married Captain Henry Rogers RN. [11] [12] [13] [14]
John Enys was the son of John Samuel Enys and Catherine Gilbert and was educated at Harrow School. [15] In the 1850s he attended lectures at the Geological Society of London, took walking tours in Britain and carefully recorded discoveries of ferns, wild-flowers and shells, establishing a pattern of life as an inveterate collector and keen amateur naturalist.
He settled on South Island, New Zealand, at Castle Hill, where he raised sheep and studied the local fauna, flora and geology. He was joined by his brother, Charles.
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
Davies Gilbert was a British engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as its President from 1827 to 1830. He changed his name to Gilbert in 1817 and served as Member of Parliament, first for Helston in Cornwall and then for Bodmin.
Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:
St Gluvias is a settlement in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is now a suburb on the northern edge of Penryn which is two miles (3.2 km) northwest of Falmouth. Until 1 April 2021 there was civil parish was called St Gluvias which doesn't include the suburb but it was renamed to Ponsanooth.
The field elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Stricta', known as Cornish elm, was commonly found in South West England, Brittany, and south-west Ireland, until the arrival of Dutch elm disease in the late 1960s. The origin of Cornish elm in the south-west of Britain remains a matter of contention. It is commonly assumed to have been introduced from Brittany. It is also considered possible that the tree may have survived the ice ages on lands to the south of Cornwall long since lost to the sea. Henry thought it "probably native in the south of Ireland". Dr Max Coleman of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, arguing in his 2002 paper on British elms that there was no clear distinction between species and subspecies, suggested that known or suspected clones of Ulmus minor, once cultivated and named, should be treated as cultivars, preferred the designation U. minor 'Stricta' to Ulmus minor var. stricta. The DNA of 'Stricta' has been investigated and the cultivar is now known to be a clone.
William Gilbert Puckey, born in Penryn, England, was a missionary in New Zealand. He accompanied his parents to New Zealand at the age of 14. He became widely regarded as one of the best interpreters of Māori in the fledgling mission. He was able to form relationships of trust with many influential Māori from a young age, and in particular, with Nōpera Panakareao, of Te Rarawa iwi at Kaitaia.
The Williams family of Caerhays, Burncoose and Scorrier were owners of mines and smelting works for several generations during the Cornish Industrial Revolution. A branch of the family settled in Port Hope, Ontario.
Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth, was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for Cornish constituencies from 1702 until 1720 when he was raised to the peerage.
John Hearle Tremayne was a member of a landed family in the English county of Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey. He was a member of the UK Parliament for the constituency of Cornwall, a Justice of the peace, and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1831. He was also the second of four successive members of the Tremayne family who are credited with the creation of the gardens around Heligan House that are now well known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Samuel Stephens was a politician in Cornwall. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in two periods between 1806 and 1820.
The Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829) was a member of a landed family in the English county of Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey, with significant interests in the Cornish tin mining industry. He is credited as initiating the creation of the set of gardens around Heligan House that are now well known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet, FRS was a Cornish landowner, mine-owner, Tory Member of Parliament, and patron of steam power. He was Recorder of Grampound, of Tregony, and of St Ives, Cornwall.
Thomas Tonkin (1678–1742) was a Cornish landowner and historian.
Members of the Basset family were amongst the early Norman settlers in the Kingdom of England. It is currently one of the few ancient Norman families who has survived through the centuries in the paternal line. They originated at Montreuil-au-Houlme in the Duchy of Normandy.
John Samuel Enys was a British mining engineer and scientist who wrote several important papers on the "duty" of steam engines and other types of power delivery, from water wheels to horses. He also made numerous studies on the extensive mining industry in Cornwall. On the death of his great uncle, Francis Enys in 1821 he inherited the Enys Estate, near Penryn, Cornwall and was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1824.
Samuel Enys was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.
John Davies Enys was a New Zealand runholder and naturalist. He was born in Penryn, Cornwall, England to John Samuel Enys and Catherine and was educated at Harrow School. In 1861 he went to New Zealand with John Acland and sent flowering plants, shrubs and trees to Cornwall, for the gardens at Enys House.
The Congregationalist Cemetery at Ponsharden, Cornwall was opened in 1808 to serve the Dissenting Christian congregations of Falmouth and Penryn. It received approximately 587 burials over a period of 120 years, before being abandoned in the 1930s. During the 20th century the site experienced significant neglect and extensive vandalism. In May 2012 a volunteer group began to restore the burial ground which is now a protected Scheduled Monument of national importance. The place-name Ponsharden is recorded in 1677 as "Ponshardy"; its meaning is Hardy's bridge.
John Jope Rogers was the owner of Penrose, a house and estate near the Cornish town of Helston. The estate included Loe Pool, the largest lake in Cornwall, now owned by the National Trust. He was also an author and Conservative MP for Helston, Cornwall from 1859 to 1865.
Media related to Enys, Penryn at Wikimedia Commons
