Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth by Nicholas Matthew Condy (1816–1851) © Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery CC0 1.0
“The effect on the mind is sublime in the highest degree, but blended with the beautiful. There was something to us quite unearthly in the feeling it created.”
The Historic Landscape
The historic Mount Edgcumbe landscape created largely in the 18th century covers more than 900 acres or 365 hectares and includes more than 5 miles of coast and riverline. On the way are more than 60 structures listed with Historic England, five scheduled monuments and remains of WWII US military presence. The area is nearly all within the Cornwall National Landscape / Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Photos from left to right of Queen Adelaide's Grotto (listed Grade II) © Amanda Slater - CC BY-SA 2.0; Blockhouse from c 1545 (listed II*) © M. Corber 2023; Parterre in formal gardens © M. Corber 2023; Path in Country Park © iwalkcornwall 2025
Mount Edgcumbe Country Park
A substantial part of the historic landscape is now the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park which came into existence in 1971 when the Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Councils purchased 865 acres from the 7th Earl, Edward Piers Edgcumbe. The wars of the 20th century had disastrous repercussions for the Edgcumbe family. In the aftermath of WWI punitive taxes were imposed on landed estates and the Edgcumbe family were among many landowners who then sold off great swathes of land. The WWII saw the destruction of Mount Edgcumbe house by an incendiary bomb intended for the Plymouth dockyard. The 5th Earl, Piers Edgcumbe, died in 1944 without leaving an heir and the title passed to his 70-year old cousin Kenelm, then living in Germany. As the 6th Earl, Kenelm gamely took up the challenge of rebuilding the wrecked house and looking after the parkland that had received no care during the years of war. After Kenelm’s death in 1965 it was his successor, Edward Piers Edgcumbe, who eventually negotiated the sale of the parkland to become a public park. More information about this process, and the early history of the park, is available HERE.
The Grade I Landscape
As a result of the National Heritage Act in being passed in April 1984, a ‘Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England’ was created and Mount Edgcumbe was designated a Grade I listed landscape in June 1987. The protected landscape is home to a great number of buildings, seats, structures, statues and monuments, many of which have their own separate listing.
Among these is Thomson’s Seat, listed Grade II on the Historic England website. This is a double-sided Doric seat from c. 1760, facing the Hamoaze and the Park respectively. The accompanying image shows the eastern elevation.
Similarly part of a grouping listed Grade II are the stone pineapple carvings that cap the piers on the ornamental bridge by the Ice House. They bear the mark Croggan, Lambeth 1827 and are made of Coade stone, an artificial stone highly resistant to degradation by the elements associated with Eleanor Coade (1733 -1821).
The Shell Seat dates from the late 18th century. It is made of rubble and entirely faced with crystals, rocks and shells, including mica, rough amethyst, ammonites, calcite and quartz crystals, brain corals, conch and ormer shells etc. The roof is made of slate. This very ornamental summer house is located in the Earl’s Garden, adjacent to Mount Edgcumbe House, and currently only accessible to visitors who pay to view the house. The Shell Seat is listed Grade II.
Pineapples © Beartomcat 2013; Shell Seat © M. Corber 2023
Thomson’s Seat © Baz Richardson 2017
The Rame Head AONB
Most of the Mount Edgcumbe historic landscape falls within the boundaries of the Rame Head Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - Section 11 of the Cornwall National Landscape. Since 2023, AONBs are also referred to as National Landscapes. There are 46 such areas within England, Wales and Northern Ireland and they are safeguarded in the national interest for their distinctive character and beauty. Along with National Parks, AONBs enjoy the highest level of protection in terms of planning. There are 12 AONBs in Cornwall, of which the Rame Head AONB is the smallest.
The spectacular Rame Head promontory that gives the AONB its name falls within the boundaries of the Country Park although it is currently sublet to a local farmer.
Drone image of Rame Head © Cyberheritage.co.uk
Photos from left to right: Sophia’s Urn; Ornamental fire pit and Milton’s Temple all © M. Corber 2023
Similarly listed Grade II is the urn erected by her husband Richard, the 2nd Earl, in memory of Sophia Edgcumbe who died at the young age of 38. The urn is in the French Garden, which Sophia played an important role in shaping. The list entry on the Historic England website is to Monument to Sophia, Countess of Edgcumbe, in the French Garden.
The ornamental ‘cupola’ at the southern end of the Garden Battery is the remaining one of a pair of fire-pits, the other having been positioned at the northern end of the original saluting battery. Dr Malcolm Cross, who has carried out extensive research on the heritage assets within the historic Mount Edgcumbe landscape, explains that these were receptacles for small carefully controlled fires that were used to light slow burning matches on ‘linstocks’ or sticks designed to hold them to light fuses. Portfires (a paper tube containing compressed potassium nitrate and smaller amounts of sulphur and gunpowder) were sometimes used. They were smaller and faster matches that were lit from the linstocks then carried to the guns to discharge the piece. The idea being to avoid the danger of sparks igniting a charge accidentally when a gun was reloaded (Source: personal communication, April 2026).
Milton’s Temple has a Grade II* listing and dates from the late 18th century. The Temple is shown on an engraving by John Crook dated 1819. It is constructed of rendered limestone. A photograph from c. 1900 shows the Temple still containing a plinth with a statue of Milton. A plaque on the interior wall carries an excerpt from Milton’s poem ‘Paradise Lost’.
Path in Country Park © iwalkcornwall 2025
Depiction of the lower Zig-Zags, no longer in existence, by Nicholas Condy (1793-1857)