Folly in Mount Edgcumbe Country Park © Peter Wall (CC BY-SA 20)
“The unique importance of Mount Edgcumbe in situation, diversity of prospect, evolution from medieval deer park to sea-girt landscaped park, its layers of garden history and literary and historical associations, make it outstanding national heritage.”
Mount Edgcumbe Country Park
The purchase of the Mount Edgcumbe parkland by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council was greatly helped by an organisation known as the Countryside Commission providing a 75% grant to assist with the purchase price of £155,000. The bulk of the money came from a fund concerned with providing access to the outdoors for urban populations. Under a scheme that was to last for some years, money was made available for the creation of several hundred parks in and near cities up and down the country. Mount Edgcumbe was an exception to the rule in already being extant as a historic parkland, although not fully appreciated as such at the time.
The National Trust
The Edgcumbe family had approached the National Trust about taking over Mount Edgcumbe. This did not come to come to pass but the Edgcumbes’ other family seat, Cotehele, was transferred to the National Trust in 1947 and became the very first house and estate ever acquired by the Trust in place of death duties.
In 2013/14 a second, unsuccessful approach was made to the National Trust about taking over the House and Country Park, this time by representatives of the two councils who now own the park.
The Park today
A Joint Committee, drawn from councillors from both councils, is responsible for oversight management of the park. In the early years of public ownership, the two councils provided the park with yearly maintenance grants which included funds earmarked for restoration projects. Diminishing resources and competing demands led to these grants being gradually reduced to zero by 2022-23.
To generate revenue, the Park now pursues a number of income-generating activities. These include the use of cottages in the parkland for holiday lets and the subletting of rooms in the house for office space. A variety of visitor attractions that are unrelated to the Park’s historic past are on offer within the Park.
Events are held throughout the year, including an Easter Egg Hunt and a Vintage Car Rally. A local charity, The Friends of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, support these activities, raise funds and co-ordinate volunteers for the Park.
The day-to-day management of the Park falls to a small number of hardworking staff. In 2000, six employees were tasked with looking after the gardens and park.
In 1906, the Estate had employed 172 staff to maintain the gardens and park, including 32 gardeners and 8 wood rangers.
“The staff are highly committed to preserving what they are well aware is a unique heritage asset, but they are increasingly expected to do it on a shoe-string.”
Map of park boundaries generated from Google Earth image
The bulk of the 865 acres now make up the Country Park though an area to the northwest of Rame Head, comprising approximately one third of Whitsand Bay is also owned by the two councils but not administered as part of the country park. This is the Treninnow and Wiggle cliff area.
The park boundaries are marked in red on the map. The Treninnow and Wiggle cliffs to the far left of the Google Earth map are likewise marked in red.
The Country Park continues to be home to descendants of the deer who roamed the headland in 1515. Photo © T. Steenhagen 2025
Reports on the Country Park
A number of important reports have been prepared on the Country Park over recent decades. They all stress the importance of the Park’s unique historic legacy and recommend that much more emphasis be placed on conservation and on informing the public about the Park’s history. The Country Park’s website features some historical information.
The Park receives more than a quarter of million visitors a year and a small survey in 2020 by the Friends of Mount Edgcumbe confirms public enthusiasm for more engagement with the Park’s history: a little under two thirds of respondents would like to see derelict buildings restored and opened.
Mavis Batey (1984) The Garden at Mount Edgcumbe, A Report by the Garden History Society, London
Griffin, C. (1984) Report of Survey of Mount Edgcumbe, 1983-84, Manpower Services Commission
Mount Edgcumbe Country Park (1987) Management Plan, Joint Committee minutes, 19 April 1985
Land Use Consultants (1989) Mount Edgcumbe Country Park: Proposed Masterplan, London, LUC
Land Use Consultants (2000) Mount Edgcumbe: Development of the Historic Landscape and Repair and Restoration Proposals, London, LUC
Mount Edgcumbe (2004) Barrow Park Outbuildings, Defacto Project Management Ltd.
Hughes, P. (2005) Conservation Plan for Mount Edgcumbe, (4 volumes), Cornwall Council
University of Pennsylvania (2008) English Garden House and French Garden House, Architectural Investigations and Archival Research (2 volumes), Graduate Program in Historical Preservation, School of Design
Feluś, K. and team (2016) Mount Edgcumbe Parkland Plan (3 volumes) Cornwall Council
The South West Coast Path, an SSSI & the National Camellia Collection
The South West Coast Path traverses the Park and the shoreline of the park, near the village of Kingsand, is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) unique in south-west England for providing visible evidence of "suprabatholithic volcanic activity" (rocks from below the Earth's surface brought up by volcanic activity after the formation of Cornwall's granite backbone).
The Country Park hosts the National Camellia Collection.
Coast Path to Kingsand © Jenny Fur
Red camellia © Norma1 2006 CC BY-NC 2.0