Lost Gardens of Heligan

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The Jungle TheLostGardensOfHeligan-Jungle.jpg
The Jungle
The Italian Garden Heligan Italian Garden.JPG
The Italian Garden
Vegetable Garden apple arches Heligan apple arches.jpg
Vegetable Garden apple arches
Flora's Green rhododendron tree Flora's Green rhododendron tree.jpg
Flora's Green rhododendron tree
Charcoal kiln in the Lost Valley Heligan charcoalkiln.jpg
Charcoal kiln in the Lost Valley
The Walled Garden Heligan Walled Garden.JPG
The Walled Garden
Rhododendron in the Jungle Heligan Rhododendron.jpg
Rhododendron in the Jungle
The Northern Summerhouse Heligan Northern Summerhouse.jpg
The Northern Summerhouse
The Georgian Ride Heligan Georgian Ride.jpg
The Georgian Ride

The Lost Gardens of Heligan (Cornish : Lowarth Helygen, meaning "willow tree garden") are located near Mevagissey in Cornwall, England and are considered to be amongst the most popular in the UK.[ citation needed ] The gardens are typical of the 19th century Gardenesque style with areas of different character and in different design styles.

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The gardens were created by members of the Cornish Tremayne family from the mid-18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, and still form part of the family's Heligan estate.[ citation needed ] The gardens were neglected after the First World War and restored only in the 1990s, a restoration that was the subject of several popular television programmes and books.[ citation needed ]

The gardens include aged and colossal rhododendrons and camellias, a series of lakes fed by a ram pump over 100 years old, highly productive flower and vegetable gardens, an Italian garden, and a wild area filled with subtropical tree ferns called "The Jungle". The gardens also have Europe's only remaining pineapple pit, warmed by rotting manure, and two figures made from rocks and plants known as the Mud Maid and the Giant's Head.

They are listed Grade II in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens. [1]

The place name, properly pronounced /hɛˈlɪkɛn/ , and not the commonly heard /ˈhɛlɪɡən/ , is derived from the Cornish word helygen, "willow tree". [2]

Geography

The Lost Gardens of Heligan completely surround Heligan House and its private gardens. They lie some 1.5 mi (2.4 km) to the north-west of, and about 250 ft (76 m) above, the fishing village of Mevagissey. The gardens are 6 mi (9.7 km) by road from the town and railway station of St Austell and are principally in the civil parish of St Ewe, although elements of the eastern gardens are in Mevagissey parish. [3]

The northern part of the gardens, which includes the main ornamental and vegetable gardens, are slightly higher than the house and slope gently down to it. The areas of the gardens to the west, south, and east of the house slope steeply down into a series of valleys that ultimately drain into the sea at Mevagissey. These areas are much wilder and include the Jungle and the Lost Valley. [3]

History

The Heligan estate was originally bought by the Tremaynes in the 16th century, and earlier members of the family were responsible for Heligan House and the (still private) gardens that immediately surround it. [4]

However, the more extensive gardens now open to the public were largely the result of the efforts of four successive squires of Heligan. These were: [4] [5]

Two estate plans, dating from 1777 and sometime before 1810, show the changes wrought to the Heligan estate during Henry Hawkins' ownership. The first plan shows a predominantly parkland estate, with the site of today's Northern Gardens occupied by a field. The second plan shows the development of shelter belts of trees surrounding the gardens, and the main shape of the Northern Gardens, the Mellon Yard and the Flower Garden are all readily discernible. [6]

Henry Hawkins' descendants each made significant contributions to the development of the gardens, including the ornamental plantings along the estate's Long Drive, The Jungle, the hybridising of rhododendrons and their planting around Flora's Green, and the creation of the Italian Garden. [5]

Before the First World War, the garden required the services of 22 gardeners to maintain it, but that war led to the deaths of 16 of those gardeners, and by 1916, the garden was being looked after by only eight men. By the 1920s, Jack Tremayne's love of Italy, which had earlier inspired the Italian Garden, led him to set up permanent home there, and lease out Heligan. The house was tenanted for most of the 20th century, used by the US Army during the Second World War, and then converted into flats and sold, without the gardens, in the 1970s. Against this background, the gardens fell into a serious state of neglect, and were lost to sight. [4] [5]

After the childless death of Jack Tremayne, the Heligan estate came under the ownership of a trust to the benefit of several members of the extended Tremayne family. One of these, John Willis, lived in the area and was responsible for introducing record producer Tim Smit to the gardens. A group of fellow enthusiasts and he decided to restore the garden to its former glory, and eventually leased them from the Tremayne family. [7]

The restoration, which was the subject of a six-part Channel 4 television series produced by Bamboo Productions and Cicada Films in 1996, proved to be an outstanding success, not only revitalising the gardens but also the local economy around Heligan by providing employment.[ citation needed ] The gardens are now leased by a company owned by their restorers, who continue to cultivate them and operate them as a visitor attraction.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Hext</span>

Alice Hext was a Cornish philanthropist, garden developer and magistrate. She was the owner of the Trebah Estate and leisure garden, near Falmouth in Cornwall from 1907 to her death in 1939, and generously supported the development of sports and social activities in the parishes of Constantine and Mawnan.

Tremayne is a Cornish language surname.

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heligan estate</span>

The Heligan estate was the ancestral home of the Tremayne family near Mevagissey in Cornwall, England. Purchased by Sampson Tremayne in 1569, the present house was built in 1692 and extended in the early 19th century. The family left the house after World War I, and by the end of World War II the house and gardens had fallen into disrepair. The house and outbuilding were converted into flats in the 1970s and the garden was considered lost, but it was rescued during a televised project in 1996. The Lost Gardens of Heligan are now open to the public as a tourist attraction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tremayne (1825–1901)</span>

John Tremayne (1825–1901) was a member of a landed family in the English county of Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey. At various times, he was a member of the UK Parliament for the constituencies of East Cornwall and South Devon, and High Sheriff of Cornwall. He was also the third 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morval, Cornwall</span> Hamlet in Cornwall, England

Morval is a rural civil parish, hamlet and historic manor in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet is approximately two miles (3 km) north of Looe and five miles (8 km) south of Liskeard.

John Tremayne may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Hawkins Tremayne</span>

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.

Sir John Tremayne SL (1647–1694) was an English lawyer and politician. He became a Serjeant-at-Law and King's Serjeant in 1689, acting as counsel during a number of cases before the House of Lords. He also represented Tregony in Parliament between 1690 and 1694.

Reverend Canon Arthur Townshend Boscawen was a British Rector of Ludgvan in Cornwall, England, and a recreational and commercial horticulturalist who introduced the anemone as a commercial crop to Cornwall.

Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:

References

  1. Historic England. "Heligan (1000538)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  2. Holmes,J 1000 Cornish Placenames Explained (1983) p22 Truran ISBN   1-85022-141-3 Retrieved 18 June 2012
  3. 1 2 Landranger Sheet 105 – Falmouth & Mevagissey. 2006.
  4. 1 2 3 Smit, Tim (1999). The Lost Gardens of Heligan. pp. 113–121.
  5. 1 2 3 Smit, Tim (1999). The Lost Gardens of Heligan. pp. 122–147.
  6. Smit, Tim (1999). The Lost Gardens of Heligan. pp. 96–97.
  7. Smit, Tim (1999). The Lost Gardens of Heligan. pp. 173–179.

Further reading

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