Saltram House, Plymouth, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The Mayhowe family owned Saltram Wood, a quay and other buildings in the 16th century. These were sold in about 1614 to Sir James Bagg, Controller of Customs and MP for Plymouth, and by 1638 there was a 'great mansion house' and gardens at Saltram (guidebook 1998). In 1660 the estate was given by Parliament to Henry Hatsell, and at the Restoration it passed to Sir George Carteret.

Celia Fiennes described Saltram in 1698 as a 'very large house...[which] look'd very finely in a thicket of trees like a grove' (Morris 1995). It was sold in 1712 to George Parker who owned an estate at Boringdon about 1.5 kilometres north-east. On his death in 1743 the estate went to John Parker (1703-1768), and his wife, Lady Catherine Poulett. By the late 1740s Saltram was the Parkers' principal residence, and in 1749 Lady Catherine's brother, second Earl Poulett of Hinton House, Somerset, brought Charles Hamilton of Painshill, Surrey to Saltram. Hamilton may have advised on the landscape (Fretwell 1990/1991). The mid 18th century landscape appears to have been limited to the gardens and pleasure grounds, as Donn does not indicate a park on his county map (1765).

John Parker II, created Lord Boringdon in 1784, succeeded in 1768, and with his wife, Theresa Robinson, made significant changes. Robert Adam (1728-1792) was commissioned to make alterations to the house (1768), while from about 1770 improvements were made to the garden and the park was developed under the supervision of Nathaniel Richmond (1724-1784) who received payments in 1770 and 1772-1774. Richmond, who also worked for Theresa's Parker's brother at Stanmer Park, Sussex, produced plans for plantations, designs for the Castle (unexecuted), and plans for the Orangery (modified). Other improvements in the 1770s included a new kitchen garden (1771), and construction of the Castle (1773) to designs by Thomas Robinson (later Lord Grantham), Theresa Parker's brother.

Agricultural improvement was regarded as part of the landscape improvement. A triumphal arch at Boringdon (Robert Adam 1783) acted as an eyecatcher from Saltram. Some of these developments are recorded in a series of paintings by William Tomkins (1770-1771), and on the Ordnance Survey surveyor's drawing (1784- 1786) (Fretwell 1990/91), which also shows that the disposition of the garden and central areas of the park was established by that date.

John Parker II died in 1788 and was succeeded by his son, who was still a minor. Saltram was let to Lord Lansdowne, and later to King George III. From the mid 1790s the park was extended, new plantations formed, and a new eastern approach with associated lodges built. Chelson Meadow south-west of the park was reclaimed from the Laira in 1806-1807. These schemes, shown on the Tithe map of 1840, meant that John Parker III, created Earl of Morley in 1815, left considerable debts at his death in 1840.

Saltram was let for twenty-three years and little was done to the grounds until the third Earl returned with his wife, Margaret, daughter of R S Holford of Westonbirt, Gloucestershire in 1884. In 1903 the Gardeners' Chronicle noted significant improvements in the garden, which had been reclaimed from a 'wilderness of laurels' and planted with rare trees and shrubs, some obtained from Westonbirt, and others from A G Mitford of Batsford, Gloucestershire. Under the fourth Earl (succeeded 1905, d 1951), and the fifth Earl (d 1962), few changes were made, except for removing the late 19th century formal garden below the west front (1956-1957).

In 1957 the House, garden and part of the park were acquired by Her Majesty's Treasury in lieu of death duties, and were passed to the National Trust, which undertook restoration of the garden buildings between 1957 and 1960. In 1970 the A38 dual carriageway was constructed through the park east of the House, and Plymouth City Council acquired Chelson Meadow, converting it into a rubbish tip. The former kitchen garden, which remained outside the National Trust property, was developed for housing in about 1984. Storm damage in 1990 led the National Trust to commission an historical survey of the site which has been used to inform recent management.