# Carclew House



## BikinGlynn (Oct 5, 2019)

*The History*

Carclew House was once described as one of Britains best houses!
The original house and estate were purchased by a wealthy merchant William Lemon (1696–1760) circa 1739.
work began in 1739, the enhancement to the mansion included flanking the main block with colonnades terminated by small pavilions in the fashionable Palladian manner, the design was similar in appearance to drawings of Palladio's planned Villa Ragona.

At the beginning of the 19th century William Lemon's grandson Sir William Lemon (1748–1824) had the house expanded further. He employed the architect William Wood (1746–1818) to create new wings in the place of the pavilions designed by Edwards. Work began in 1799 with the east wing being built in 1800 and the west wing in 1802. The wings were linked to the corps de logis by raised colonnaded connecting wings on the site of Edwards's original colonnades.

Sir Charles Lemon was amongst the first people in England to receive and grow rhododendron seed from Sir Joseph Hooker, who had sent seed directly to Carclew House from his Himalayan expedition of 1848–1850.[5] The Rhododendron arboretum specimen at Carclew, planted c. 1850 by Sir Charles became one of the most famous in Cornwall. By 1928 it was about 35 feet high.

In 1934 Carclew was destroyed by fire and today just a few ruins are visible of what was once one of Cornwall's great houses.[6] It was then owned by Captain Charles H. Tremayne, a descendant of Sir Charles Lemon.[7] In the late 1930s though, one wing was ‘made habitable by hard work’ and brought into service as a reception centre for refugees coming from Europe. This was a project of the Society of Friends’ Peace Committee and was run by James T. Bail

* The Explore*

I was down south on holiday with the good lady but when in Rome & all that!
I had a few explores planned before I went but hadnt seen this one & indeed can only find one expired report from 2012. I noticed this while browsing the net one eve when down there & though it looked a bit tricky but worth a bash.

Now the area is quite affluent & given all the private signs guess they dont take too kindly to visitors so decided to do an early start. This is in close proximity to a live farm & newer houses which would explain the rather out of place swimming pool!
I nearly copped it straight away too when a car came down the main private road I was walking along. There was no hedges or trees just a slight slope into a field of stubble so I just hit the deck, tucked my arms in & made like a log! unbelievably the car drove straight by 6ft away & didnt see me lol

Anyway on with the pics, please bear in mind it was 6am & pitch black so I struggled a bit here, but its amazing what u can do with lightroom ;-)


9O5A3552 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3550 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3566 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3568 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3557 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3560 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3554 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3571 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3548 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3555 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3570 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr



9O5A3546 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


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## smiler (Oct 6, 2019)

Proper Job Glynn.


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## BikinGlynn (Oct 6, 2019)

smiler said:


> Proper Job Glynn.



Thanks Smiler, I liked it anyway!


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## HughieD (Oct 6, 2019)

Good work BG. My kind of place. Needs a bit of work!


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## BikinGlynn (Oct 7, 2019)

HughieD said:


> Good work BG. My kind of place. Needs a bit of work!



I thought of u while there, its right up your street lol


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## krela (Oct 7, 2019)

I read "once described as one of Britains best houses!" got quite excited and scrolled down.

Serves me right for not reading the rest of the text.


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## BikinGlynn (Oct 7, 2019)

krela said:


> I read "once described as one of Britains best houses!" got quite excited and scrolled down.
> 
> Serves me right for not reading the rest of the text.



Ha ha Im sure it was once!


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## urban-dorset (Oct 8, 2019)

Nice pics, thank you.


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