Mount Edgcumbe, Torpoint, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.  

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The site of Mount Edgcumbe formed part of the Valletort estate which was acquired by Sir Piers Edgcumbe (1472-1539), son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe (died 1489) of Cotehele, Cornwall, through his marriage in 1493 with Joan Durnford. In 1515 Sir Piers enclosed a deer park on the Rame peninsular and it was here, between 1547 and 1550, that his son, Sir Richard, who had inherited the estate in 1539, built a new house known as Mount Edgcumbe; this replaced Cotehele as the family's principal residence. Sir Richard was succeeded in 1562 by his son, Sir Piers (died 1608), and during the late 16th century fortifications against the Spanish were built on the Rame peninsular.

Sir Piers' grandson, Colonel Piers Edgcumbe (1610-1667), supported the Crown during the Civil War, and following the capitulation of his garrison at Mount Edgcumbe in 1645, returned to Cotehele. Following the Restoration, Colonel Edgcumbe began to make improvements to the grounds at Mount Edgcumbe, diverting the road from Cremyll Passage to Millbrook in 1664. The improvements were continued by Sir Piers' son, Sir Richard (1640-1688, knighted 1662), and may have been influenced by his cousin, John Evelyn (1620-1706) (Gaskell Brown 1998).

By 1739, when Thomas Badeslade published an engraving of Mount Edgcumbe, extensive formal gardens and pleasure grounds had been laid out by Sir Richard's son, also Richard, who inherited in 1688 and was created Baron Edgcumbe in 1742. In 1715 Richard Edgcumbe married Matilda Furnese of Waldershare Park, Kent. Their gardener, Thomas Hull (active 1730s to 1783), was a subscriber to Switzer's Practical Husbandman (1733-1734). Nicholas Pococke described Mount Edgcumbe in 1750, commenting on the 'fine lawn before the house' and the 'terrace' planted with exotic subjects extending along the coast south of the house (Pococke 1888-1889).

The first Lord Edgcumbe was succeeded in 1758 by his eldest son, Richard, the 2nd Lord Edgcumbe, a close friend of Horace Walpole and a keen antiquary. The 2nd Lord Edgcumbe died in 1761, when the estate passed to his younger brother George, a naval officer who became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1776. The threat of French and Spanish landings in 1779 led to the felling of large numbers of trees in the park at Cremyll and Maker Heights for the construction of temporary defences (Gaskell Brown 1998).

Lord Edgcumbe was created Viscount Valletort in 1781 when he entertained King George III and Queen Charlotte at Mount Edgcumbe; during a subsequent royal visit in 1789 he was created Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. The 1st Earl, who, like his brother, was an antiquary and associate of Horace Walpole, died in 1795, when he was succeeded as 2nd Earl by his only son, Richard. Married to Sophia Hobart, daughter of the Earl of Buckinghamshire of Blickling Hall, Norfolk, the 2nd Earl developed the Italian and French Gardens in the pleasure grounds, and continued to develop rides and plantations in the park. The 3rd Earl, who inherited the estate from his father in 1839, found Mount Edgcumbe increasingly inconvenient as a residence, particularly as his health began to fail; in 1855 he constructed the Winter Villa at Stonehouse on the east side of Plymouth Sound. The Villa, a substantial residence, was demolished in 1975.

In 1941 the interior of Mount Edgcumbe was destroyed by incendiary bombs, while in 1944 the direct Edgcumbe line failed when the 5th Earl died without issue. The title and estate passed to a cousin, Kenelm, 6th Earl, who supervised the reconstruction of the house between 1958 and 1964. The 6th Earl's only son having been killed in action in 1940, at his death in 1965 the estate passed to a cousin from the New Zealand branch of the family. The 7th Earl (died 1982), who moved to Cornwall from New Zealand, negotiated the sale in 1971 of the house and some 865 acres (about 360 hectares) of gardens and park jointly to Cornwall County Council and Plymouth City Council for use as a Country Park. Today (2000) the site remains in divided ownership, with the house, gardens, and park continuing to be municipally owned, and other areas of the site remaining in private ownership.

Mount Edgcumbe was situated in Devon until 1854, when it was transferred to Cornwall.