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HISTORY OF TREBAH GARDEN - 1086 TO 2005
Page 1 - Genesis (1086 to 1939)
Trebah (pronounced Tree-bâ) is
Celtic for ‘The House on the Bay’ and was first
recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the property of
the Bishop of Exeter. For the next 745 years it was passed
between minor members of the Cornish Squirarchy
and Yeoman farmers until 1831 when it was acquired by the
Fox family of Falmouth.
Trebah was first laid out as a 26 acre pleasure garden by
Charles Fox, a Quaker polymath of enormous creative energy.
He paid meticulous attention to the exact positioning of
every tree. He instructed his Head Gardener to build a scaffold tower to represent the eventual height
of each tree; the youngest garden
boy was then sent up the tower with a white flag. From an attic window and armed with megaphone and telescope,
Charles gave his orders. The tower often had to be re-positioned
several times before he was satisfied.
His daughter Juliet
married Edmund Backhouse MP and inherited Trebah on Charles’ death
in 1876. The next 30 years of Backhouse ownership was a golden era
for Trebah during which it acquired a huge collection of
exotic plants and trees from all over the world. Amongst
the many rare rhododendrons propagated were Rhododendron 'Trebah Gem',
Rhododendron 'Trebianum' and Rhododendron 'Edmundii' (named after Sir Edmund Backhouse).
In 1907 Charles Hawkins Hext bought Trebah. For the
next 32 years he and his wife, the redoubtable Alice, continued
to develop the garden. The bottom pond was puddled and stocked
with pink flamingos, a boathouse was built at the bottom
of the garden and the summerhouse was enlarged. Many bamboos
were planted and more tender plantings introduced, most of
which seemed to be lost by 1950. Amongst the many visitors
at this time was the Prince of Wales, who with Wallis and
Ernest Simpson was shown round the garden in 1935. At the
Prince’s request, Alice sent him some plants of Chatham
Island Forget-Me-Not, which he had admired, for the gardens
at Sandringham.
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