The English Garden House
Research & words by Dr Malcolm Cross
‘Arguably the finest building in the country park, particularly for its rich interior decorative features’. So said councillors from the Joint Committee responsible for the Country Park soon after they became its custodians, The English Garden House was constructed sometime after 1718 and before 1729 when it first appears on maps. It functioned as a banqueting house for the Edgcumbe family and visitors throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The English Garden House © Sue Rowlands 2017
The English Garden House dates from the first period of garden design within the Country Park and appears on a 1729 map of the estate and also Badeslade’s famous engraving of 1737. It was then located in the maze like layout of hedges and shrubs that was later developed into the three named gardens that appear today – English, French and Italian.
Referring to Badeslade’s famous depiction, the daughter of the 3rd Earl (Ernestine Edgcumbe, 1843-1925) describes the original setting as:
. . . planted with clipped hedges of laurel and ilex, displaying vistas and inclosing smooth lawns on which gaily-dressed lords and ladies disport themselves with music, dancing, flirting, and fencing, or enjoy open-air reflections attended by negro (sic) servants. In one is represented the still existing centre part of a Garden House, to which the second Earl added wings with sitting-rooms, where he and his daughter Emma, afterwards Countess Brownlow, spent much of their time, entertained visitors and transacted business (Pall Mall Magazine, May 1897).
Garden House in the Wilderness (centre). Detail from Badeslade 1737
This comment accurately reflects both the light hearted purposes to which the area was devoted, together with the importance attached to the building that it contained. It is extremely unlikely that any ‘business’ was conducted therein, unless as an unanticipated consequence of the relaxed atmosphere.
The English Garden House was accurately portrayed by officers servicing the Joint Committee as ‘arguably the finest building in the country park, particularly for its rich interior decorative features’. It was constructed sometime after 1718 and before 1729 when it first appears on maps and a little later on the Badeslade illustration above. The additions on either side of the central section and at the rear were made in the middle of the century and further modifications were introduced in the early 19th century (1809-12).
The centre part of the English Garden House served as a banqueting centre (possibly by Badeslade, c. 1735 but more probably by Edmund Prideaux, c. 1730)
It is listed as Grade II* by Historic England mainly on account of its ‘fine Classical interior schemes of carved wood and moulded plaster from both main phases of its development in the C18 and early C19’. It functioned as a banqueting house for the Edgcumbe family and visitors throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. George III and Queen Charlotte were entertained there in 1789 and William IV in 1834. It also served as a focal point in the early evolution of the gardens.
In the middle of the 18th century the fine sunken marble bath was added in Ashburton marble, initially as a cold plunge pool but a little later with hot water when a furnace was completed at the rear. At this time, the bath was equipped with equally impressive bronze taps in the form of dolphins.
The sunken bath in the English Garden House
The entrance hall and the inner hall have intricately carved cornices, door frames, chair rails and skirting boards. It is possible that the plasterwork on the cornices is the work of William Croggon, a famous employee and probable family relative of Eleanor Coade, whose firm supplied the pineapple-shaped Coadestone features in the gardens and much else besides (Hughes, 2005). Bath houses were not uncommon in similar houses; the idea being to achieve purported health benefits from raising body temperature in a ‘warming room’ before plunging into cold water. Outdoor examples exist at nearby Antony House and also at Boconnoc, although each had an adjacent but separate warming room.
The English Garden House has been the subject of numerous architectural and archaeological investigations. Indeed, more is known about this building than any other on the estate. An archaeological survey was conducted in 1993 that showed evidence of six phases of building construction (Gaskell Brown and Humphries, 1993). Two years later there was an investigation paid for by English Heritage of paint samples from the inner hall, outer hall, east room, west room, and bathing room (Bristow, 1995). The following year, Cornwall Archaeological Unit reported on the original location of the boiler on the western exterior wall of the bathing room (Thomas and Thorpe, 1996) and in 2004-5 the Conservation Report by Dr Pat Hughes (2005) included an important section on the building. This was followed in 2007-8 by a particularly thorough and impressive survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania postgraduate School of Design programme on Historic Preservation that focussed on both this building and the conservatory in the neighbouring French Garden.
The side elevation of the English Garden house in 2023
The American study is by far the most in depth and sophisticated to date. It describes all the phases of the English Garden building’s construction, together with the original surface finishes and paintwork. It also details the internal and external design of the numerous roof levels (1) as they reflect the many additions and developments of the building. MERIT is delighted to have secured the kind permission of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design to reproduce this study and will be making this publication available in due course.
The gardens around the English Garden House originally contained informal flower beds modelled on those at Nuneham Courtney in Oxfordshire, the work of the poet and garden designer, William Mason. Just after the visit of George III and Queen Charlotte in August 1789, Countess Edgcumbe wrote to Countess Harcourt at Nuneham that after visiting the Lower Zigzag paths ‘their Majesties got again into their carriage & were carry'd to another alighting place, from whence they walk'd gently to the house, honoring me in the way with a visit to my flower garden, which they were pleased to approve’ (Countess Edgcumbe to Countess Harcourt 27 August 1789 in Harcourt E.W. (ed) (n.d.) The Harcourt Papers Vol VIII, Oxford, James Parker: 286).
The southern elevation of the English Garden House
Note
(1) The lead from the roof was stolen in 2013. The then Park Manager obtained a quote to have it replaced for £18,000 but a temporary roof covering was chosen instead. Damage from ingress of water led to the English Garden House being placed was placed on the ‘at risk’ register by Historic England. The lead was then replaced in 2025 at a cost of £329,000.
References
Bristow, I.C. (1995) Mount Edgcumbe: the English Garden House, Report on an investigation of paint samples for English Heritage, London, 22 June.
Gaskell Brown, C. and Humphries, R.W. (1993) English Garden House Excavation and Survey.
Hughes, P. (2005) Mount Edgcumbe Conservation Plan (4 vols, including Building Conditions Report by Eric Berry and Peter Herring), Cornwall Council
Thomas, N. and Thorpe, C. (1996) An Archaeological Investigation of Features Associated with the English Garden House, Mount Edgcumbe, Cornwall Archaeological Unit, CCC.
University of Pennsylvania (2008) English Garden House and French Garden House, Architectural Investigations and Archival Research, Graduate Program in Historical Preservation, School of Design (2 vols)
Further reading on buildings & structures within Mount Edgcumbe Country Park
Carew, R. (1602 reprinted Tamar Books, 2000) Survey of Cornwall: 113-14.
Chope, R.P. (Ed) (1967) Early Tours in Devon and Cornwall, Newton Abbott, David and Charles.
Cornwall Records Office ME/2031/1) – now housed at Kresen Kernow in Redruth
Jope, E.M. (1961) ‘Cornish Houses’ in Jope E. M. (Ed.) Studies in Building History, London, Odhams Press: 192-222.
Carew, R. (1602 reprinted Tamar Books, 2000) Survey of Cornwall: 113-14.
Feluś, K. et al. (2016) Mount Edgcumbe Parkland Plan, 3 volumes, Cornwall Council
Fiennes, C. (1967) ‘Through England on a Side Saddle’ in Chope (Ed.) Early Tours in Devon and Cornwall, Newton Abbott, David and Charles.: 111-137.
Gaskell Brown, C. (2003) Mount Edgcumbe House & Country Park: A Guide, 2nd ed. Acanthus Press.
Gilbert, C.S. (1820) A Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall, Plymouth.
Jewitt, L (1873) History of Plymouth, London, Simkin, Marshall and Co.
Jope, E.M. (1961) ‘Cornish Houses’ in Jope E. M. (Ed.) Studies in Building History, London, Odhams Press: 192-222.
Hughes, P. (2005) Mount Edgcumbe Conservation Plan, 4 volumes, Cornwall Council
Kelly, A. (1990) Mrs Coade’s Stone, Reading, Berks, Kelly
Lipscomb, G. (1799) Journey into Cornwall, Warwick, H. Sharpe
Land Use Consultants (2000) Mount Edgcumbe: Development of the Historic Landscape and Repair and Restoration Proposals, London, LUC
Pococke, R. (1967) ‘Travels through England’ in Chope (Ed.) Early Tours in Devon and Cornwall, Newton Abbott, David and Charles.: 178 – 215.
Pye, A. and Woodward, F. (1996) The Historic Defences of Plymouth, Truro: Cornwall County Council
Rowe, S. (1832) The Panorama of Plymouth, or Tourists’ Guide to the Towns and Vicinity of Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse, Plymouth
Warner, R. (1812) A Tour Round Plymouth
Warner, R. (1809) A Tour Through Cornwall in the Autumn of 1808, Bath, R. Cutwell
Warner, R. (1837) A Walk Round Mount Edgcumbe, 7th Edition, Devonport
Warner, R. (1841) A Walk Round Mount Edgcumbe, 11th Edition. Devonport, W. Byers
Wright, W.H.K. (1871) Duprez’s Visitors’ Guide to Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth, Cove Bros