Trengwainton Garden
| Trengwainton Garden | |
|
National Trust | |
|---|---|
 The pond in Trengwainton | |
| Grid reference: | SW445315 |
| Information | |
| Website: | Trengwainton |
Trengwainton Garden is a lush garden near Madron in western Cornwall, near Penzance. It has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1961. The garden is noted for its collection of exotic trees and shrubs and offers views over Mount's Bay and The Lizard.
A house has stood on the site since at least the 16th century. The walled garden, which was built in Elizabethan times, seems to have been constructed as a response to the period of persistently cooler weather known as the Maunder Minimum. The wall prevented warm air from escaping from the garden on cool nights, thereby allowing frost-sensitive fruit trees to survive, despite the cooling climate.[1]
In 1814 the estate was bought by Sir Rose Price Bt, the son of a Jamaican sugar plantation owner. Trengwainton was sold when the plantation's profits fell at the abolition of slavery in 1833. In 1867 T S Bolitho bought the estate, and his family still live in Trengwainton House.
Price began the laying out of the garden; he planted trees and built the walled gardens, which are said to be based on the dimensions of Noah’s Ark. In 1925 Sir Edward Bolitho and his head gardener Alfred Creek continued the development of the garden. They were opened to the public, for the first time, in 1931. The Victoria Medal of Honour for Horticulture was awarded to Sir Edward in 1961 and in the same year he donated 98 acres to the National Trust.[2]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Trengwainton Garden) |
- Trengwainton Garden – National Trust
References
Further reading
Trengwainton Garden, Cornwall. The National Trust. 2003.
Trengwainton (National Trust Guidebooks). The HIstory Press Ltd. 1999. ISBN 978-1-84359-076-7.