Mount Edgcumbe Country Park

Mount Edgcumbe Country Park
View from Mount Edgcumbe Park across Plymouth Sound to Drake's Island
Coordinates	50°21′11″N 4°11′02″W / 50.353°N 4.184°W / 50.353; -4.184
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
Official name	Mount Edgcumbe
Designated	11 June 1987
Reference no.	1000134
Location of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall

Mount Edgcumbe Country Park is listed as Grade I on the

The park also contains the villages of

Features of the park

The park is well endowed with interesting features, many of which are

• Barn Pool - A sheltered deep water basin anchorage used by the Vikings in 997. Offshore there is a shipwreck of the Catharina von Flensburg. On 27 December 1831, HMS Beagle set off from here on her second survey voyage, captained by Robert FitzRoy with Charles Darwin on board.^[3]
• Barrow - c. 1200 BC - a
  burial mound
  , re-used as a "Prospect Mound" in the 18th century.

• King Henry VIII's reign, to defend the mouth of the Tamar and the Edgcumbes' town of West Stonehouse opposite.^[4]
• Signal Station, where signalling
  was done from passing ships to the station by flags during the day and by lights at night, it became a radio station in 1905, then transferred to the Coastguards c. 1925.
• Cremyll Ferry - c. 1204 - a major ferry crossing between Devon and Cornwall since medieval times.
• Deer - In 1515 Sir Piers Edgcumbe was given permission by King Henry VIII to empark deer: the deer of today roam freely on the Rame Peninsula.
• Deer Wall or Ha Ha - c. 1695 - A stone wall with outer ditch to protect the Amphitheatre from deer.^[5]
• Earl's Drive - In early days called the Terrace. A driveway from the house round the coast to Maker Church by 1788, extended to Penlee Point by 1823.

• Folly - 1747 - an artificial ruin which replaced a navigation obelisk. It was built from stone from the churches of St. George and St. Lawrence, Stonehouse.^[6]
• Formal Gardens - From c. 1750 to 1820 - gardens in Italian, English and French styles. New Zealand, American (1989) and Jubilee Gardens (2003) have now been added.^[7]
• Garden
  casemates for seven large 68-pounder guns.^[8]

• Harbour View Seat - 18th century - a much damaged ornamental seat also known as White Seat, with views north up the River Tamar.^[9]
• Upper Deer House and Pebble Seat - 19th century - in the Grotton Plantation the ruins of a two-storey fodder store for deer; and the ruined 18th-century Pebble Seat facing south.^[10][11]
• Ice House - From around 1800, this ice house is under the bridge leading to the house. It is only open on special occasions.^[12]
• St Mary's and St Julian's Church - First mentioned in 1186, it was enlarged in the 15th century. This is the family church of the Edgcumbes.

• Milton's Temple - A circular temple from 1755, with a plaque inscribed with lines from Paradise Lost; "overhead up grew, insuperable heights of loftiest shade..."^[13]
• The Orangery - The Orangery in the Italian Garden is thought to have been built as early as 1760. The building is now a fully licensed restaurant.^[14]
• Penlee Battery - 1892 - the remains of a Victorian fort armed with three guns in both world wars. A granite sculpture by Greg Powlesland, (1995), is in the nearby nature reserve.
• Picklecombe Fort Seat - A seat made from a doorway and enclosing a small niche with a piscina at the back. The carved stone comes from the churches of St. George and St. Lawrence at Stonehouse.^[15]
• Queen Adelaide's Grotto - 18th-century cave used as a watch house, enhanced with an arched stone building after Adelaide's visit, 1827.

• Rame Church - Rebuilt from a Norman church in 1239, and enlarged in the 15th century
• Red Seat - 19th century - a ruinous rest house, sometimes called the Kiosk, which was painted red. Below is another ruined seat known as Indian Cottage or The Verandah.^[16]
• Stables - c. 1850 - The stables, dairy, smithy, sawmill and stores, all essential to the running of the estate. The stables are open to the public and house a cafe as well as various activity centres and art studios.^[17]
• St. Julian's Well - A very small 15th-century chapel and holy well, which was restored c. 1890.[18]

• fort
  .
• South West Coast Path - This goes around the Country Park
• Thomson's Seat - From around 1760, a Doric pavilion with seats looking across to Plymouth Sound. Verses from The Seasons are inscribed on the wall.^[19]
• West Lodge and Arch - The Arch over the Earl's Drive may have been built to mark the creation of the Viscount in 1781.^[20]
• Zig-Zags
  - The Zig-Zag walks were from the 1760s, and became famous in the 19th century as "The Horrors". Intricate paths on a dramatic cliff, surrounded by exotic shrubs. The lower cliff paths and some stone seats have been lost to cliff erosion.

Wildlife and ecology

Several larvae of the beautiful pearl (Agrotera nemoralis), were found by members of the Cornish branch of Butterfly Conservation on European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) during August 2013. The micro-moth was previously only known (in Britain) from East Blean Woods, Kent.^[21]

See also

• Mount Edgcumbe House
• Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

References

External links

• Official website