Penzance Archives - Explore Cornwall

Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens

Caitlin — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 16:09:48 +0000

Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens are located in a small wooded valley on the outskirts of Penzance, overlooking the wonderful Mount’s Bay. Scattered amongst the trees and carefully cultivated plants are dozens of contemporary sculptures, designed to be intricately woven into the landscape around them.

The land that the gardens sits on was once part of the estate owned by the St Michael’s Mount monks. This was until 1295 when it was bought by a farmer, Michael De Tremenheere, who’s family cared for the land for the next 600 years. During the 15^th century, land in the valley was partly used as a vineyard, along with areas used to grow strawberries.

It wasn’t until 1890, when the then owner Seymour Tremenheere, began planting different species of trees. This included holly, sweet chestnut, beech and oaks. Along with his planting, a carriageway was also built up the valley.
After the Tremenheere’s left the land, the Pearce family worked the land until 1997 when the main section of the valley was bought by Dr Neil Armstrong. Prior to his ownership, large sections had become unkept, with rhododendrons taking over some sections and brambles others.

Sculptures

Dotted throughout the valley are nineteen unique sculptures made by over twenty artists. These permanent works vary greatly, some blending effortlessly with the surrounding plant life, while others scream colour amongst the foliage.

Plants

The first planting in ernest was to add in wind shelter breaks, primarily using Pinus radiata, Quercus ilex and sundry native trees. Some of the earlier specimens have reached a height of 30 feet or more, having become completely established. The garden itself was mostly dictated by its unique landscaping, with the natural gradient of the hill requiring long sloping paths, allowing for sections to be compartmentalised.

The shape of the valley provides a microclimate that allows for all kinds of exotic plants to flourish, and while there is a real range of different trees, bushes and flowers, they all come together to produce a wonderful garden.

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St Michael’s Mount Castle and Garden

Caitlin — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 17:47:03 +0000

A picturesque castle on an island in the middle of a bay? What more could you want?
St Michael’s Mount with its hilltop castle and surrounding gardens is delicately perched in the bay parallel with the village of Marazion, near Penzance.

The castle and the island around it has existed in many forms, originating as a priory for a group of monks who came over from Mont St Michel. This is a similar affair, with a monastery built on an island off the coast of Normandy, France. These fellows came over in the early 12th century and built a church in 1135. Said church still exists today, although I image it looks rather different from the original as it was largely rebuilt in the 14th century and further renovations have occurred since then.

From the time of the monks, the island with its remarkable castle has changed hands several times, but now belongs to the St Aubyn family who took over the property in 1659.

Around 30 people currently live on the island, with the majority of their lives revolving around the weather and tides.
The harbour has been in use for maybe over 2000 years, primarily being used for trade and fishing. The pier originally dates from the 15th century, being enlarged in 1823. The harbour remains full of boats, and there’s even an amphibious vehicle tucked around the corner.

The walk up from the little village takes you through some of the gardens on the south side of the island and up the old cobbled path to the castles front door.

Legend has it that at one point a giant named Cormoran lived on the island, stealing livestock from the local farmers to eat. He continued to terrorise the locals, until a young lad named Jack decided to dig a big pit, lure the giant down the hill until he fell in it. Jack then filled in the pit with Cormoran at the bottom. The giants heart can still be found amongst the cobbles of the path.
The ‘pit’, or well, that exists today was really the source of water for the islanders until about 100 years ago.

The walk up to the castle offers some pretty spectacular views of the bay, Marazion and down to Penzance.

There is an underground railway that comes up to the castle from the harbour; built around 1900 by local miners, this is still used to transport goods. The gun batteries along the rim of the mount was installed in the 18th century.

The garden on the Mount is pretty spectacular and were actually designed to be viewed from above as well as on ground level. It’s maintained by a team of four gardeners, who do an amazing job at keeping the garden is good condition. This even involves some abseiling down from the castle battlements to the higher garden tiers. During WWII a number of pillboxes were built on the Mount to serve as look out posts in case of German invasion.

The inside of the house is as beautifully decorated as is expected. The crest of the St Aubyn family can be found on the wall on entry to the property and there are wonderful views of the church from all sides, complete with extravagant stained glass windows. Other rooms include St John’s room, the library, smoking room, blue drawing room, map room, garrison room, museum room and the east wing were the family still live.

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Trengwainton Gardens

Caitlin — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 14:56:20 +0000

Trengwainton on the outskirts of Penzance, is comprised of a Grade II listed house and gardens, both wooded and walled.

The land has been own by a number of different families since the late medieval period, starting with the Cowling family. The property was sold by Thomas Cowling to Francis Arundell in 1688 who had the house rebuilt in 1692. At some time around 1700, the land was sold to the Praed family who rented it out as a farm.

In 1813, Sir Rose Price bought the estate and during its time under his ownership he had the house remodelled, increasing it in size. He also created the raised terrace, the right entrance lodge, walled gardens, fish ponds and planted shelterbeds.

However, in 1833 following the abolition of slavery, plantations owned by the Price family in Jamaica were closed, having a significant financial impact. Sir Rose Price died two years later and the estate was sold to Henry Lewis Stephens of Tregenna Castle, St Ives, to help pay off some of the debt.

In 1867 the estate was acquired by Thomas Simon Bolitho, a member of the “Merchant Princes of Cornwall” Bolitho family. Their reach included banks (notably Barclays), mines, tin smelters, ships and pilchard fisheries. His son, Thomas Robins Bolitho again reformed the main house and gardens. When he died in 1925 the estate was left to his nephew Lt-Col Sir Edward H W Bolitho of York House, Penzance.

It was under Lt-Col that more significant developments were made to the gardens. In 1927, he was invited to share in a seed hunting expedition to Burma and Assam, from which over 150 species were brought back, including a number of the rhododendrons. In 1961, Lt-Col Bolitho gave the estate over to the National Trust with the condition that the family could remain in residence. His son Major Simon Edward Bolitho took over the house until his death in 1991. The house then went to his eldest son Col Edward Bolitho OBE who still lives there.

The garden is famous for its extensive variety of plants, ferns and trees. The estate has over 50 species of magnolia, but it is the rhododendrons that Trengwainton is truly famous for – many of the species originated from the above mentioned Burma/Assam trip and were raised by head gardener Alfred Creek who was responsible for the creation of a number of hybrids.

Trengwainton also boasts a number of Champion trees:
Craibiodendron yunnanense, Dodecadenia grandiflora, Eucryphia x hillieri and Hoheria populnea

Just under 90 of its trees are included on The Tree Register, a record of ancient and historical trees.

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