Henry Hawkins Tremayne
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The Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829) was a member of a landed family in the English county of
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, and owner of the Heligan estate near
Mevagissey Mevagissey (; ) is a village, fishing port and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.< ...
, with significant interests in the Cornish
tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
industry. He is credited as initiating the creation of the set of gardens around Heligan House that are now well known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan.


Life

Henry Hawkins Tremayne was born in 1741, the second son of John Tremayne and Grace Hawkins. He was baptised at St Ewe on 17 July 1741, and was educated at
Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...
in Tiverton. He attended
Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...
of the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, where he
matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...
in May 1759 and graduated as a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in 1763. Like many second sons of landed families, he was destined for a career in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
, where he was ordained as a
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
in 1766. He took up the post of
curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...
at
Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; ) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwi ...
. Henry's older brother Lewis died shortly after Henry's ordination, leaving Henry the unexpected role of heir to the Heligan estate. In 1767, he married Harriet, the daughter of John Hearle of Penryn, a former vice-warden of the stannaries. As a consequence, he inherited a third share of the extensive Hearle estates and mining industry. In 1808 a further inheritance brought him the Tremayne estates at
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
in
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
. Henry was active in local politics although, unlike his son and grandsons, he never became a member of Parliament. He was a
Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
and was elected
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of Penryn on several occasions. In 1791 he chaired a protest meeting of those involved in the
pilchard Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it comes ...
fisheries. He was locally renowned for his charity: 'his numerous tenantry knew him as their kindest and best friend' (''West Briton'', 20 Feb. 1829). Henry died at Heligan on 10 February 1829. His eldest son,
John Hearle Tremayne John Hearle Tremayne (17 March 1780 – 27 August 1851) was a member of a landed family in the English county of Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey. He was a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament fo ...
, inherited an estate of more than in Devon and Cornwall, including Heligan.


Heligan

Henry aspired to create a great garden at Heligan. He started by planting protective shelter belts of
conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
s on the western and eastern boundaries of his planned extensive gardens. In 1785, he undertook a tour of southern England, visiting many of the significant gardens of the time, including those of Blenheim, Park Place, Stowe and
Hestercombe Hestercombe House is a historic country house in the parish of West Monkton in the Quantock Hills, near Taunton in Somerset, England. The house is a Grade II* listed building and the estate is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register ...
. He removed the earlier
parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...
s, and laid out the northern gardens, building
walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...
s,
greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
s, and a
pineapple pit A pineapple pit is a method of growing pineapples in colder climates. One of the earliest examples in Britain has been found by archaeologists at Heligan in Cornwall.The Lost Gardens of Heligan Handbook, 2002 Updated 2007, copyright Heligan Garde ...
. Two estate plans, dating, respectively, from 1777 and sometime before 1810, show the changes wrought to the Heligan estate during Henry's ownership. The first plan shows a predominantly parkland estate, with the site of today's ''Northern Gardens'' occupied by a field. The second plan shows the development of shelter belts of trees surrounding the gardens, and the main shape of the ''Northern Gardens'', the ''Mellon Yard'' and the ''Flower Garden'' are all readily discernable.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tremayne, Henry Hawkins 1741 births 1829 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford English gardeners People educated at Blundell's School People from St Ewe 18th-century English Anglican priests