Carclew House

Carclew House was a large Palladian county house near Mylor in Cornwall. Rebuilt in the 18th century and again in the early 19th century, it was destroyed by fire in 1934. [Worsley, p 186]

The original house and estate were purchased by a wealthy merchant William Lemon (1696–1760) circa 1739. Lemon's town house in Truro had been designed by the architect Thomas Edwards, and it was again to Edwards that Lemon turned to substantially increase and modernise his new country house Carclew. [Cornish History]

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. [Cornish History. "It should be noted that this villa which the reference refers to as "Villa Le Ghizzole" was never built"]

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' original colonnades. [Cornish History]

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. [Image of destroyed Carclew] The terraced gardens complete with their water fountains and cascades remain and are open to the public. [Carclew Gardens] ["The Times", Friday, Apr 06, 1934; pg. 12; Issue 46721; col E "Cornish Country House Fire Narrow Escapes By Night, Art Treasures Burnt.]

References

Sources

*cite book
last = Worsley
first = Giles
year = 2002
title = England's lost Houses
publisher = Aurum Press
location = London
id = ISBN 1 85410 820 4
* [http://www.marjon.ac.uk/cornish-history/conf2002dodds/index.htm Cornish History] retrieved 24 March 2007
* [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/landscapes/ukpg/sites/carclew.htm Carclew Gardens] retrieved 24 March 2007
* [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/landscapes/ukpg/designer/edwardst.htm Thomas Edwards] retrieved 24 March 2007
* [http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/sites/knnllvlly.htm Image of destroyed Carclew] retrieved 24 March 2007
* [http://lh.matthewbeckett.com/houses/lh_cornwall_carclew_gallery.html Lost Heritage website images of Carclew] retrieved 1 August 2008

Notes