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National Trust

TrengwaintonSetting Study

January 2015

jmccabe

Typewritten Text

M4.HS.1.3

Trengwainton January 2015 ______________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________ NT.155 1 Nicholas Pearson Partnership LLP Setting Study

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 METHODOLOGY

3.0 HERITAGE ASSETS AND POLICY CONTEXT

4.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

5.0 THE VISUAL ENVELOPE

6.0 THE SETTING

7.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Figures

1. Location Plan and Viewpoints

2. Ordnance Survey Old Series map, 1813

3. Estate Plan, 1866

4. Ordnance Survey, first edition, 1878

5. Ordnance Survey, 1952-66

6. Conservation Designations and Heritage Assets

7. Planning Policy

8. Zone of Theoretical Visibility: from Trengwainton House

9. Zone of Theoretical Visibility: from the Main Terrace

10. Identified setting of the Heritage Asset

Viewpoint sheets

Viewpoint 1: Trengwainton House

Viewpoint 2: East Terrace

Viewpoint 3: Main Terrace – West

Viewpoint 4: Main Terrace – East

Viewpoint 5: The Lawn

Viewpoint 6: Approach drive

Viewpoint 7: Approach drive

Viewpoint 8: Walled Garden

Viewpoint 9: Entrance gate

Viewpoint10: Adjacent Park Lodge

Viewpoint 11: North boundary

Viewpoint 12: Zig-Zag Drive



Viewpoint 13: Boswednan

Viewpoint 14: The Pond

Viewpoint 15: Polclose Approach

Viewpoint 16: Trengwainton Carn

Viewpoint 17: West of Bosednan

Viewpoint 18: Tremethick Cross

Viewpoint 19: Close to West Lodge

Viewpoint 20: Lesingey

Viewpoint 21: Near Rosehill

Viewpoint 22: Overlooking Boscathnoe

Appendices

1. References

2. Historic Environment Record



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are most grateful to the steering group who has reviewed and advised on this study,

namely Michael Calder, Phil Griffiths, Emma Jones, Ian Marsh, James Parry and Ian Wright of

the National Trust; and Kim Auston, English Heritage.

We would also like to thank Col. and Mrs. Bolitho for allowing access to Trengwainton

House.

The historic overview for this study has been based on research by Jonathan Lovie and Ian

Wright, with additional material from the Trengwainton property archives.



1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose of the Study

Trengwainton is a historic house, gardens, park and estate in southwest Cornwall,

just two miles outside Penzance (figure 1). This report has been commissioned by

the National Trust to identify the setting of Trengwainton, and help to inform

decisions about local development. Trengwainton comprises a group of heritage

assets including several grade II listed buildings and a grade II* English Heritage

Registered Park and Garden. The study seeks to:

• analyse the current and historic landscape context of Trengwainton;

• map the visual envelope of the heritage assets;

• and identify the significance and sensitivity of the setting to the registered

landscape and its listed buildings, which necessitates identifying an extent of that

setting for the purposes of this analysis.

The intended use of this study is twofold:

• To contribute to the evidence available to all parties involved in managing

change by assisting in any assessment of how the significance of Trengwainton

might be affected by a development proposal that would impact upon its setting.

Local Planning authorities are required by national policy to take such

assessments into account to avoid or minimise conflict between the heritage asset’s

conservation and any aspect of a proposal. (NPPF; para 129)

• To form part of a positive strategy for the conservation of Trengwainton by

helping the local planning authority ensure that their Local Plan is based upon

up-to-date evidence about the historic environment as required by national

policy (NPPF; para 169), and as evidence for any other development or

management plans, including any Neighbourhood Plan.

1.2 The Need for a Setting Study

The setting of listed buildings, registered landscapes, and the views from them are

not formally identified or mapped by English Heritage, and yet often play a significant

role in how a heritage asset was originally developed, and is now understood,

experienced or appreciated. The importance of the setting of the heritage assets at

Trengwainton was identified in the Trengwainton Garden Conservation Management

Plan: Policy Document (Internal report for The National Trust, 2010). A principal

significance of the Trengwainton buildings and gardens are the designed views,

particularly from the upper garden: Views within and beyond the garden are of



fundamental importance to the impact of the landscape design (Section 6, p.20). The

policies proposed to protect these views, and therefore, the setting of Trengwainton

were as follows:

Policy (general)…External views (those which take in land beyond the garden and the

Estate/National Trust ownership) must be identified, documented and incorporated into the

Local Development Framework in order that they can be considered as a material matter in

any planning process which might affect that land (Section 6, p.20)

The most notable view from the registered landscape is that from the Terrace,

looking over Penzance towards Mount’s Bay. Due to its critical role in the design,

this view was given an individual policy in the Conservation Management Plan:

Policy (Terrace View): This view is the most significant in the Grade II* designated

landscape. It must be identified as such within the Local Development Framework in order

that due weight can be given to its importance in any planning process affecting the land

within the view (Section 6, p.20).

1.3 The importance of understanding and more accurately identifying the setting of

Trengwainton has been heightened by a number of recent proposals in the revised

Local Plan to develop parcels of land within the vicinity of the heritage assets, in

particularly, within the principal Terrace view. The need has also been highlighted

by the recent construction of the Zennor Building and associated 50m high turbine

at Penwith College in Penzance. Completed in 2010, these structures intrude

directly and centrally into a designed view of Mount’s Bay from Trengwainton

House.

1.4 National Policy and Recent Planning Decisions

A number of recent high profile planning cases have highlighted the increasing

appreciation of the role of setting in the significance of heritage assets. The NPPF

states that significance can be harmed or lost through alteration or destruction of the

heritage asset or development within its setting. As heritage assets are irreplaceable, any

harm or loss should require clear and convincing justification. Substantial harm to or loss

of a grade II listed building, park or garden should be exceptional. Substantial harm to or

loss of designated heritage assets of the highest significance, notably scheduled

monuments,…grade I and II* listed buildings and grade I and II* registered parks and

gardens…should be wholly exceptional (para. 132).



1.5 Despite the stress on substantial harm, a recent application for 70 houses in the

setting of Wymondham Abbey in Norfolk, a grade I listed building, was rejected by

the Communities Secretary even though it was considered to have less than

substantial harm to the heritage asset. The adverse impacts of the development

were said to outweigh the benefit of providing additional housing in an area with an

acknowledged shortfall. Similarly, following a High Court judgement, the adverse

impacts of the development of a wind farm on the setting of the grade I listed

mansion and grade I registered landscape of Lyveden New Bield, Northamptonshire,

were also considered to outweigh any renewable energy benefits, despite being

identified as causing less than substantial harm to the heritage asset by a planning

inspector. These cases stress that any harm, substantial or less than substantial, to

the setting of a designated heritage asset can be unacceptable without an exceptional

and convincing justification.

1.6 Definition of Setting

Setting is defined in The Setting of Heritage Assets (English Heritage, 2011) and the

National Planning Policy Framework (DCLG, 2012) as The surroundings in which a

heritage asset is experienced. Its extent is not fixed and may change as the asset and its

surroundings evolve. Elements of setting may make a positive or negative contribution to

the significance of an asset, may affect the ability to appreciate that significance, or may be

neutral (NPPF, Annex 2: Glossary). In addition to this definition, The Setting of

Heritage Assets goes on to define the key principles of understanding setting:

• All heritage assets have a setting.

• The extent and importance of setting is usually expressed in visual terms,

but the way we experience an asset is also influenced by other

environmental factors, spatial associations and by an understanding of the

historic relationship between places.

• Setting is more extensive than curtilage and its extent may change as an

asset and its surroundings evolve, or as understanding of the asset improves.

• Setting can enhance the significance of a heritage asset, whether or not it

was designed to do so.

• The contribution that setting makes to significance does not depend on

there being public access to it.

Setting is, therefore, a complex concept to interpret and define. It is made more

challenging by the fact that it is wholly specific to the character, history and



significance of a particular historic site, structure or landscape – every heritage asset

is unique with its own, individual setting.

1.7 In order to establish the setting of Trengwainton, investigations have been based on

the definition of setting in English Heritage’s Conservation Principles. The three

components of setting identified by this definition have been interpreted as visibility,

spatial context and function. Visibility is, perhaps, the most straightforward aspect

of the three, being the reality of what can be seen from within a historic site and the

visual influences on how a historic site is perceived. Spatial context is a less tangible

aspect, relating to the physical, cultural and spatial values of the surrounding

landscape in which a historic site is experienced. Function addresses the past and

present functional relationships of a site with its surroundings, relating to elements

which may include land use, communications and ownership.

1.8 In practice, this has resulted in the application of three methods to identify the

specific setting of Trengwainton: an objective identification of the zone of theoretical

visibility (ZTV) using computer modelling; a more subjective analysis of individual

historic and present day views into and out of the registered landscape, addressing

the significance, landscape character and sensitivity of the views in question and the

spatial context of the heritage assets; and an assessment of the currently known

history of Trengwainton from documentary records and recent reports to

understand the historic development and past function of the heritage assets and

their settings. The purpose of these exercises is to: gain a detailed understanding of

the setting of the heritage asset; to enable identification of the setting and what it

contributes to significance; and to identify the landscape character of the setting, and

the sensitivity of the setting to change.

1.9 This study has been prepared, produced and reviewed in consultation with The

National Trust, the Bolitho Estate, Cornwall Council and English Heritage. Survey

work was carried out during August and September 2014, when trees were still in

full leaf.



2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Current guidance

2.1.1 When devising a methodology for assessing the setting of Trengwainton, a number

of key advisory documents were consulted:

• Conservation Principles (English Heritage, April 2008)

• Seeing the History in the View (English Heritage, May 2011)

• The Setting of Heritage Assets (English Heritage, October 2011)

• National Planning Policy Framework (Department for Communities and Local

Government, March 2012)

• Planning Practice Guidance web-based resource (Department for Communities

and Local Government, launched March 2014)

• English Heritage Good Practice Advice on Setting and Decision-Taking (English

Heritage, consultation draft, July 2014)

2.1.2 In the recently published draft Good Practice Advice, English Heritage sets out the

following methodology for assessing the impact of a proposed development on

heritage assets and their settings:

• Step 1: Identifying the heritage assets affected and their settings.

• Step 2: Assessing whether, how and to what degree these settings make a

contribution to the significance of the heritage asset(s):

− identification of the key attributes of a heritage asset

− consideration of the physical surroundings of the asset, including its

relationship with other heritage assets

− consideration of the way the asset is appreciated

− consideration of asset’s associations and patterns of use.

• Step 3: Assessing the effect of the proposed development on the significance of

the asset(s).

• Step 4: Maximising enhancement and minimising harm.

• Step 5: Making and documenting the decision and monitoring outcomes.

2.1.3 The objective of the Trengwainton Setting Study is to identify the setting of the

heritage assets in advance of proposed development, in order to inform planning

policy and decisions. The above methodology has therefore been applied in part as

a basis for the current study, following steps 1 and 2.



2.2 Setting Study Methodology

The following tasks were undertaken to identify the setting of Trengwainton:

2.2.1 Task 1: Identifying the Heritage Assets

The first stage was to identify the heritage assets to which the setting study needs to

apply. This was achieved through the following tasks:

i. Ascertaining all designated and undesignated identified heritage assets lying

within the property owned by the National Trust and within a surrounding

study area, including and beyond the registered landscape. The data was

collected from English Heritage’s National Heritage List, the National Trust’s

Sites, Buildings and Monuments Record and the Cornwall Historic

Environment Record. The assets identified included those historically

related to Trengwainton, but no longer linked by ownership.

ii. Using previous reports, studies and certain primary documentary sources,

an outline history of Trengwainton was prepared in order to understand the

historic development of building, its landscape and associated structures.

The sources are illustrated or listed in appendix 1. The results of this

research are presented in section 2, Historical Background.

iii. Crosschecking the officially recognised heritage assets with the historic

landscape analysis to identify any additional assets and historic character

areas.

iv. Assessing the heritage values and significance of the identified heritage

assets.

v. Researching any current policies or non-heritage designations that relate to

the heritage assets.

2.2.2 Task 2: Selection of Viewpoints

The second stage was to identify viewpoints for the visual appraisal. The close

relationship between views and setting is discussed in the Good Practice Advice, which

states that views can be static or dynamic, can include views of, across, including and

from a heritage asset, and may involve overlap with the visual setting of other

heritage assets. They contribute to the significance of a heritage asset by revealing

relationships and historic associations with other assets, places or natural features

and, in terms of parks and gardens, by helping to understand and experience the

design of a landscape and its key buildings.



2.2.3 The identification of viewpoints for Trengwainton was based on the results of the

historic landscape analysis and, in particular, key designed views identified in historic

photographs, engravings, drawings and paintings of Trengwainton. The two principal

viewpoints offering, therefore, the principal designed views from Trengwainton,

were the first floor of the House and the Terrace. These were considered to be the

most significant historic viewpoints as they are demonstrably critical to the design of

the buildings and landscape, and they offer the greatest extent of views from

Trengwainton, helping to identify the full, visually sensitive setting for the heritage

assets. If the principal and key designed views were to be lost or eroded, the cultural

and aesthetic heritage values of an asset would be diminished.

2.2.4 The identification of key and principal designed views to and from Trengwainton is

based on our current understanding of the heritage assets, their historic

development, and on the current condition of their surroundings. The dynamic

nature of landscapes means that views can become concealed or revealed over time,

for example, as a result of tree growth, or loss through disease or storm damage.

Future historic research may also reveal the existence of designed views no longer

apparent in today’s landscape. This underlines the importance of conserving a core

setting around heritage assets in order to protect potential views that may be

identified in the future. It is also important to review this study periodically to verify

and revise viewpoints and views, as local landscapes change and new information

comes to light. The estate landscape north of Carn Lodge, for example, might yet

prove to be a significant component of the wider ornamental estate, following

further research.

2.2.5 Secondary, contextual viewpoints, located outside the registered park, were also

identified for assessment during the site survey. These were selected on the basis of

publicly accessible viewpoints with views to or including Trengwainton, including

known historic viewpoints and views from local topographic high points. As publicly

accessible viewpoints, these are the most widely experienced locations where

Trengwainton and its registered landscape can be appreciated, and therefore of

social and cultural significance. Viewpoints from high points in the local landscape

generally offer the greatest extent of views to and from Trengwainton. Views from

private land not otherwise accessible may be significant and form part of the setting,

but were only identified by a mapping exercise.



2.2.6 Task 3: Mapping the Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV)

The third exercise was to identify the zone of theoretical visibility around

Trengwainton, primarily by reference to the full extent of the area visible from the

two principal designed viewpoints identified in task 2. This technique is

recommended in English Heritage’s Good Practice Advice and uses the latest, robust

technology proven at public inquiry. A photogrammetrically derived digital surface

model with a 2m horizontal resolution, and a vertical accuracy of ± 24cm, was used

to generate a three dimensional topographic model. To cover an area around

Trengwainton that incorporated the western edge of Penzance, 20km² of digital

surface model (DSM)data was used. The ZTV was plotted for this 20km² area,

assuming either no development (0.5m crop-level changes); development involving

typical two-storey building elevations of 7m; or industrial elevations of 10m or 12m.

Tall masts and turbines may be of much greater heights, but are generally subject to

detailed landscape and visual impact appraisals including site-specific ZTV studies.

2.2.7 DSM has the particular advantage of including woodland crown canopies, but may

exclude hedgerows and individual trees that could be felled or die at any time, and

therefore cannot be relied upon as tree screens. DSM data is not solely based on

terrain, taking into account established tree blocks and woodlands, as well as large

landscape features such as existing buildings. This method is used partly to define

the visual sensitivity of Trengwainton to changes in landscape management, as well as

built development.

2.2.8 This specification of ZTV is primarily concerned with the potential effects of urban

and village extensions and substantial residential developments, rather than individual

small-scale developments, or, alternatively, very tall development such as major

industrial, wind turbine or infrastructure development. The study methodology

does not address urban or village extensions beyond about three kilometres due to

the effects of distance, topography and the existing geographic distribution of

settlements in this particular area.

2.2.9 The viewpoint appraisal has also identified views that extend beyond this local

vicinity, and considers the impact of potential major developments, such as wind

farms or highway realignments, on the key viewpoints and wider setting of the

property.



2.2.10 Task 4: Site Survey

Following the background analyses of the location of heritage assets, the historic

development of Trengwainton, the significance of its assets, the historic viewpoints,

the contextual viewpoints and the Zone of Theoretical Visibility, a site survey was

undertaken to test the validity of the results on the ground. This involved visiting,

assessing and recording views and viewpoints and recording the physical and visual

surroundings of each heritage asset, including their relationships with each other and

the landscape character of those surroundings. The site survey was carried out in

September 2014. The results of this exercise are illustrated in the landscape

character descriptions and individual Viewpoint Sheets 1 to 22.

2.2.11 Task 5: Identifying the setting and its role

On the basis of the documentary research, mapping and site survey, the final stage

was to identify the nature of the setting of Trengwainton’s heritage assets, as a

group, and define how this setting contributes to the heritage values and significance

of the historic house and its landscape.

2.2.12 English Heritage guidance notes the impossibility of mapping a fixed boundary to the

setting of a heritage asset and states that it cannot be definitively and permanently

described as a spatially bounded area or as lying within a set distance from a heritage asset

(Setting of Heritage Assets, para. 2.2). However, in practice, as part of a process of

assessing to what degree the setting makes a contribution to the significance of the

heritage assets concerned – what matters and why – some guide as to the present

day geographical area is an effective way to communicate and inform decision-

making over change within that area. With this in mind, this Setting Study has

mapped and annotated the core setting of Trengwainton, and also indicated the

wider setting in figure 10.

2.2.13 Assessing the role of the setting for the heritage assets has taken the following

aspects into consideration:

• The contribution of setting in the past, in particular, when Trengwainton was

first built (following EH guidance).

• How the role of the setting has changed over time.

• The present attributes of the setting and its contribution to the surviving

heritage assets and how they are experienced and appreciated.



• The sensitivity of different parts of the setting and the capacity it may, or may

not, have for change.



3.0 HERITAGE ASSETS AND POLICY CONTEXT

The following section is divided into four sections: the first identifies the recognised

designated and non-designated heritage assets within and around Trengwainton; the

second sets out national guidance about the role and nature of setting; the third

addresses local planning policy in Cornwall; and the fourth explores existing

appraisals of the setting of Trengwainton and local landscape character.

3.1 Heritage Assets

3.1.1 This setting study is focussed on a group of identified heritage assets that together

form the core of the Trengwainton Estate (figure 6; appendix 2). These comprise of:

• Trengwainton gardens and wooded valley – grade II* on the English Heritage

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. Grade

II* sites are particularly important, of more than special interest (English Heritage

website, visited September 2014). Trengwainton was entered on the Register in

1987.

• Trengwainton House – grade II listed building (listed in 1988)

• Trengwainton House coach house, stables, courtyard walls, gate piers and

mounting block – all grade II listed buildings

• The walled garden, bothy and potting shed and head gardeners’ cottages – grade

II listed buildings

• The gate lodge (northern building) – grade II listed building

• The well and spout, east of the walled garden – grade II listed structure

• The nineteenth century apiary and walled garden dipping well – recorded on

the Cornwall HER

• A Bronze Age findspot in the woods behind Trengwainton House - recorded on

the Cornwall HER

• An early nineteenth century icehouse - recorded on the Cornwall HER

• Early nineteenth century fish and duck decoy ponds - recorded on the Cornwall

HER

3.1.2 This key group is surrounded by a number of additional heritage assets (figure 6)

related to the local, ancient agricultural landscape and to neighbouring estates

(designations stated where applicable). In close proximity are the medieval

settlements of Boswednan and Hendra (grade II listed farmstead), the post medieval

corn mill at Polteggan, the mid nineteenth century farmhouse at Parc an Growes



(grade II listed building) and a number of prehistoric features on the higher ground

and moorland above Trengwainton House. The nearby village of Madron

incorporates a number of medieval and post medieval sites and listed buildings, and

is also a Conservation Area. Lesingey Round, to the south east of Trengwainton, is

a scheduled monument Iron Age hillfort. Castle Horneck was rebuilt as a country

house in the eighteenth century and is now a grade II* listed building, as are the

neighbouring eighteenth and nineteenth century houses of Rosehill, Roscadghill and

Nancealverne. Trewern Round to the northwest of Trengwainton is also a

scheduled monument.

3.2 Guidance on Setting

3.2.1 National Planning Policy Framework

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that In determining planning

applications, local planning authorities should require an applicant to describe the

significance of any heritage assets affected, including any contribution made by their setting

(para 128)…This is reiterated in paragraph 129: Local planning authorities should

identify and assess the particular significance of any heritage asset that may be affected by

a proposal (including by development affecting the setting of a heritage asset) taking

account of the available evidence and any necessary expertise. They should take this

assessment into account when considering the impact of a proposal on a heritage asset, to

avoid or minimise conflict between the heritage asset’s conservation and any aspect of the

proposal.

This advice applies to designated and non-designated heritage assets.

Local planning authorities are encouraged to look for opportunities for new

development…within the setting of heritage assets to enhance or better reveal their

significance. Proposals that preserve those elements of the setting that make a positive

contribution or better reveal the significance of the asset should be treated favourably

(para.137).

Setting is defined as The surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced. Its extent

is not fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve. Elements of setting

may make a positive or negative contribution to the significance of an asset, may affect the

ability to appreciate that significance, or may be neutral (NPPF, Annex 2: Glossary).



The accompanying Planning Policy Guidance published in March 2014 by the

Department of Communities and Local Government as a web-based resource,

highlights the issue of cumulative change:

When assessing any application for development which may affect the setting of a heritage

asset, local planning authorities may need to consider the implications of cumulative

change…(Paragraph 013 Reference ID: 18a-013-20140306)

It also includes advice on minimising harm to the significance of a heritage asset

through studies produced at an early stage:

A clear understanding of the significance of a heritage asset and its setting is necessary to

develop proposals which avoid or minimise harm. Early appraisals, a conservation plan or

targeted specialist investigation can help to identify constraints and opportunities arising

from the asset at an early stage…(Paragraph 019 Reference ID: 18a-019-20140306)

This report aims to provide this specialist investigation.

3.2.2 English Heritage Guidance

English Heritage have produced four key documents which address the setting of

heritage assets:

• Conservation Principles (English Heritage, April 2008)

• Seeing the History in the View (English Heritage, May 2011)

• The Setting of Heritage Assets (English Heritage, October 2011)

• English Heritage Good Practice Advice on Setting and Decision-Taking (English

Heritage, consultation draft, July 2014)

English Heritage’s Conservation Principles: Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable

Management of the Historic Environment (1) makes the following comments on the

contribution of setting and context:

Paragraph 76

‘Setting’ is an established concept that relates to the surroundings in which a place is

experienced, its local context, embracing present and past relationships to the adjacent

landscape. Definition of the setting of a significant place will normally be guided by the

extent to which material change within it could affect (enhance or diminish) the place’s

significance.



Paragraph 77

‘Context’ embraces any relationship between a place and other places. It can be, for

example, cultural, intellectual, spatial or functional, so any one place can have a multi-

layered context. The range of contextual relationships of a place will normally emerge from

an understanding of its origins and evolution. Understanding context is particularly relevant

to assessing whether a place has greater value for being part of a larger entity, or sharing

characteristics with other places.

The guidance set out in Conservation Principles was developed further in English

Heritage’s subsequent documents Seeing History in the View and The Setting of

Heritage Assets. The former sets out a method for understanding and assessing

heritage significance within views and aims to provide a consistent and positive approach to

managing change. Significant views might include those recognised as part of the

plan-making process (e.g. those of the London and Oxford skylines), views identified

in character area appraisals, and views identified when assessing sites as part of the

development process. Importantly, the guidance applies to views that are historically

significant as designed views from, to and within historic parks and gardens that have been

identified as part of the evidence base for development plans, such as those noted during

English Heritage’s 2001 upgrading of the national Register of Parks and Gardens (p. 4).

The document sets out the two key stages of their methodology as:

• Phase A: baseline analysis: defines and analyses heritage significance within a view.

• Phase B: assessment: assesses the potential impact of a specific development

proposal on heritage significance within a view, as analysed in Phase A.

This report aims to address Phase A.

In focussing on historic views, Seeing History in the View addresses the visual aspects

of the setting of heritage assets. The Setting of Heritage Assets provides more holistic

guidance, dealing with all aspects of setting. The document continues to use the

same definition of setting as originally published in the Planning Policy Statement 5:

Planning for the Historic Environment and retained in the NPPF. The document makes

a clear distinction between setting, curtilage, character and context:

• Curtilage is a legal term used to described an area around a building the boundary of

which is defined by matters including past and present ownership and functional



association and interdependency. The setting of a historic asset will include but

generally be more extensive than its curtilage (if it has one).

• The character of a historic place is the sum of all its attributes. This may include

relationships with people, now and through time; its visual aspects; and the features,

materials, and spaces associated with its history, including its original configuration

and subsequent losses and changes. Heritage assets and their settings contribute to

character, but it is a broader and non-statutory concept, often used in relation to

entire historic areas and landscapes.

• The context of a heritage asset is a non-statutory term used to describe any

relationship between it and other heritage assets, which are relevant to its

significance. These relationships can be cultural, intellectual, spatial or functional.

They apply irrespective of distance, extending well beyond what might be considered

an asset’s setting, and can include the relationship of one heritage asset to another

of the same period or function, or with the same designer or architect.

The Setting of Heritage Assets retains the key principles for understanding setting that

were originally published in paragraphs 113 to 117 of PPS 5 Planning for the Historic

Environment: Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide:

• 113. Setting is the surroundings in which an asset is experienced. All heritage assets

have a setting, irrespective of the form in which they survive and whether they are

designated or not. Elements of a setting may make a positive or negative contribution

to the significance of an asset, may affect the ability to appreciate that significance,

or may be neutral.

• 114. The extent and importance of setting is often expressed by reference to visual

considerations. Although views of or from an asset will play an important part, the

way in which we experience an asset in its setting is also influenced by other

environmental factors such as noise, dust and vibration; by spatial associations; and,

by our understanding of the historic relationship between places. For example,

buildings that are in close proximity but not visible from each other may have a

historic or aesthetic connection that amplifies the experience of the significance of

each. They would be considered to be within one another’s setting.

• 115. Setting will, therefore, generally be more extensive than curtilage and its

perceived extent may change as an asset and its surroundings evolve or as

understanding of the asset improves.

• 116. The setting of a heritage asset can enhance its significance whether or not it

was designed to do so. The formal parkland around a country house and the



fortuitously developed multi-period townscape around a medieval church may both

contribute to the significance.

• 117. The contribution that setting makes to the significance does not depend on

there being public rights or an ability to access or experience that setting. This will

vary over time and according to circumstance. Nevertheless, proper evaluation of the

effect of change within the setting of a heritage asset will usually need to consider

the implications, if any, for public appreciation of its significance.

The Setting of Heritage Assets makes a special reference to designed settings:

Many heritage assets have settings that have been designed to enhance their presence and

visual interest or to create experiences of drama or surprise. Views and vistas, or their

deliberate screening, are key features of these designed settings, providing design axes and

establishing their scale, structure, layout and character. These designed settings may also

be regarded as heritage assets in their own rights, which, themselves, have a wider setting:

a park may form the immediate setting for a great house, while having its own setting that

includes lines-of-sight to more distant heritage assets or natural features beyond the park

boundary.

Although an understanding of setting and views is an important element of the register

entry on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in

England, the designated area is often restricted to the ‘core’ elements, such as a formal

park. It is important, therefore, that the extended and remote elements of design are

taken into account when the setting of a designed landscape is being evaluated.(p. 10)

Other key comments in The Setting of Heritage Assets that relate to this study

include:

• Local development plans should: address the conservation and enhancement of

setting through criteria-based and site specific policies and, where appropriate,

through supplementary planning documents. (p. 13)

• Mapping of setting: While it is not practicable to definitively map setting (as a

geographically bounded area) in advance of unforeseen future developments, it is

possible for a plan to define which aspects and qualities of a heritage asset’s setting

contribute to or detract from its significance, to analyse and illustrate particularly

important views or to provide appropriate design guidance.(p. 13).

• Change: Protection of the setting of heritage assets need not prevent change (p.15).



The most recent guidance on setting issued by English Heritage is the English

Heritage Good Practice Advice on Setting and Decision-Taking (English Heritage,

consultation draft, July 2014). This document summarises much of the advice set

out in The History in the View and The Setting of Heritage Assets. The document

includes a useful checklist of potential attributes of a setting to help elucidate its

contribution to the significance of a heritage asset:

The asset’s physical surroundings

• Topography

• Other heritage assets (including buildings, structures, landscapes, areas or

archaeological remains)

• Definition, scale and ‘grain’ of surrounding streetscape, landscape and spaces

• Formal design

• Historic materials and surfaces

• Land use

• Green space, trees and vegetation

• Openness, enclosure and boundaries

• Functional relationships and communications

• History and degree of change over time

• Integrity

• Issues such as soil chemistry and hydrology

Experience of the asset

• Surrounding landscape or townscape character

• Views from, towards, through, across and including the asset

• Visual dominance, prominence or role as focal point

• Intentional intervisibility with other historic and natural features

• Noise, vibration and other pollutants or nuisances

• Tranquillity, remoteness, ‘wildness’

• Sense of enclosure, seclusion, intimacy or privacy

• Dynamism and activity

• Accessibility, permeability and patterns of movement

• Degree of interpretation or promotion to the public

• The rarity of comparable survivals of setting

• The asset’s associative attributes



• Associative relationships between heritage assets

• Cultural associations

• Celebrated artistic representations

• Traditions

• take account of the landscape context and setting of buildings and

settlements; of building materials; and of the patterns of fields, hedgerows and

walls that distinguish one area from another.

3.2.3 International Conservation Policy

The Burra Charter is a widely respected document, written by the Australian branch

of ICOMOS (revised 1999), which sets out the basic principles and procedures to be

followed in the conservation of places of cultural significance. Based on the

principles of the Venice Charter of 1964, it has been accepted worldwide as a very

useful document for practitioners involved in historic buildings and conservation. A

principle of the Burra Charter is that the cultural significance of a place is embodied in

its physical material (fabric), its setting and its contents; in its use; in the associated

documents; and in its meaning to people through their use and associations with the place.

One aim of the Charter is to care for the place’s setting.

3.3 Local Planning Policy

3.3.1 Cornwall Local Plan

Cornwall Council is currently preparing a new local plan, with consultation on the

Local Plan Strategic Policies Proposed Submission Document 2010-2030 (March

2014) commencing in September 2014. The Historic Environment – a non-

renewable, outstanding and distinctive resource that contributes to Cornwall’s economy,

tourism, education, and culture and community identity (para. 2.99) – is covered by

Policy 24 of this document, which currently reads as follows:

Policy 24 - Historic Environment

Development proposals will need to sustain Cornwall’s local distinctiveness and character

and protect or and enhance Cornwall’s historic environment and assets according to their

international, national and local significance through the following measures:

a. Protect, conserve and enhance the historic environment of designated and undesignated

heritage assets and their settings, including historic landscapes, settlements, Conservation

Areas, marine environments, archaeological sites, parks and gardens and historic buildings.



b. Protect, enhance and promote the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site

and its setting; supporting the adopted management plan.

Assessment and mitigation

Development and management proposals should be informed by proportionate historic

environment assessments and evaluations. Where the balance of a decision in favour of

development results in the loss or significant damage of a heritage asset, the council will

seek require appropriate and proportionate mitigation by using planning conditions,

management agreements and obligations.

Until the Cornwall Local Plan is adopted, the planning policies prepared by the

former district councils have been saved and used to determine planning

applications, together with the guidance provided by the NPPF. Trengwainton used

to lie within Penwith District and is covered by the following heritage policies

adopted in 2004. Heritage policies would, of course, be balanced with other Local

Plan policies in planning decisions:

Policy CC-17 Historic Parks and Gardens

Proposals for development which would adversely affect historic parks and gardens and

their setting will not be permitted.

Policy CC-5 Areas of Great Landscape Value

Development will not be permitted where it would cause significant harm to the character

and amenity of the areas of great landscape value.

This policy identifies landscapes of county importance. Trengwainton lies in the St

Buryan AGLV, described as enclosed farmland which separates the higher granite

moorland to the north from the coastal margins to the south and west.

Policy CC-16 Areas of Great Historic Value

Proposals for development within the areas of great historic value and those affecting

archaeological remains of county importance will not be permitted where it would harm: i.

the historic character of the landscape, ii. The value, character or setting of the remains.

Trengwainton falls within the Penwith Moors and Coast AGHV, designated for its

extensive archaeological remains which form one of the greatest concentrations of

Scheduled Monuments in Britain. It also has good surviving examples of ancient field

systems and considerable industrial heritage.



Policy CC-8 Areas of Great Scientific Value and County Wildlife Site

Development would not be permitted where it would significantly harm the nature

conservation or geological interest of Areas of Great Scientific Value, County Wildlife Sites…

The northwestern part of Trengwainton registered landscape, including

Trengwainton House, lies within the Penwith Moors AGSV.

Policy TV-10 Listed Buildings

Proposals for development which would directly or indirectly affect a listed building will not

be permitted unless they respect: i. Its intrinsic architectural and historic value; ii. Its design

and particular physical features and; iii. Its setting and contribution to the local scene.

Policy CC-3 Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Proposals for development conflicting with the objective to conserve and enhance the Area

of Outstanding Natural Beauty will not be permitted.

Trengwainton lies adjacent the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

3.3.2 Penzance and Newlyn Area Action Plan and Framework

The Penzance and Newlyn Area Action Plan 2006-2026 was commenced as part of

Penwith District Council’s Local Development Framework before the creation of

Cornwall Council in 2009. The document went out for consultation in January

2008. The Area Action Plan mapped two potential development sites in northwest

Penzance, namely P4 Land at Luthergwearne Farm and P5 Roscadguill Road.

Cornwall Council later developed the Penzance and Newlyn Area Framework Plan –

Options to 2030 in which three potential new neighbourhoods and eleven potential

neighbourhood extensions options were identified and taken forward in the Core

Strategy Area Based Discussion Paper in 2012 as part of the Our Preferred Approach

for a Core Strategy consultation. This showed the previously proposed development

sites P4 and P5 as urban extension option PNE6 and new neighbourhood option

PNN1. The framework also proposed development between Castle Horneck and

Trereife Farm, coded PNN2. Supporting evidence at that time included The

Penzance and Newlyn: Urban Extension Assessment (December 2011).



3.3.3 Cornwall Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

The Cornwall SHLAA was produced by Cornwall Council in September 2013 and

updates an earlier SHLAA published in 2009. It identifies and maps potential housing

sites, but does not allocate the land. The purpose of the SHLAA is to provide an

important piece of evidence that will help the Council in deciding the best sites to meet our

housing need in the most sustainable way (Cornwall Council website, visited August

2014). The document will form part of the evidence base for the Local Plan.

Two potential housing sites have been located at Heamoor: S848 and S460. The

latter comprises the two sites proposed on the 2008 Area Action Plan (P4 and P5)

and the 2011 plan (PNE6 and PNN1) (figure 7) measuring a total of 20ha, with a

capacity for 400 units. S848 is an additional area due north of PNE6, measuring just

under 3ha with a capacity for 42 units. Both sites have been classified Phase 2: 2018-

2022. A further two development sites are located on the north side of Madron,

the larger infilling the land between Mount View and Madron Village.

The Site Allocations Document that will form part of the Cornwall Local Plan is yet to

emerge, and has not been subject to public consultation, beyond the consultation on

the scoping report in 2013.

3.4 Existing Appraisals

3.4.1 Studies commissioned by the National Trust

The importance of the setting of the heritage assets at Trengwainton was identified

in the Trengwainton Garden Conservation Management Plan: Policy Document (Jonathan

Lovie for The National Trust, 2010). A principal feature of the structures and their

designed landscape are views, particularly from the upper garden: Views within and

beyond the garden are of fundamental importance to the impact of the landscape design

(Section 6, p.20). The policies proposed to protect these views, and therefore, the

setting of Trengwainton were as follows:

Policy (general)…External views (those which take in land beyond the garden and the

Estate/National Trust ownership) must be identified, documented and incorporated into the

Local Development Framework in order that they can be considered as a material matter in

any planning process which might affect that land (Section 6, p.20)



The key view from the registered landscape is that from the Terrace, looking over

Mount’s Bay. Due to its critical role in the design, this view was given an individual

policy in the Conservation Management Plan:

Policy (Terrace View): This view is the most significant in the Grade II* designated

landscape. It must be identified as such within the Local Development Framework in order

that due weight can be given to its importance in any planning process affecting the land

within the view (Section 6, p.20).

In the same year, the Trust produced an initial analysis of the setting of

Trengwainton, mapping key Mount’s Bay views and the key setting. The latter

comprised the farmland between Heamoor and the A3071, southeast of the

registered landscape and central to the designed views.

In 1998, the National Trust and the Bolitho Estate jointly commissioned A Landscape

Appraisal of Land Adjacent to Trengwainton (Chris Blandford Associates, November

1998). The report was prepared in order to support objections made by the Trust

and the Estate to the exclusion of land from the proposed extension to the St

Buryan Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV) – a county-level designation designed

to safeguard the landscape’s character and amenity value. The AGLV included the

registered historic park and garden, but excluded the farmland to the northeast and

southeast (figure 6). As a pastoral landscape with enfolding valley woodlands, this

was thought to comply with the requirements of the AGLV. It was also considered

to contribute to the character and amenity value of the gardens in providing an extension

of this wooded character and visual amenity value such that visual definition between

parkland and its surrounding landscape is indistinct. This gradual transition continues away

from the parkland and its associated mature woodland towards Penzance to the east (9).

The proposed extension was not adopted by Penwith District Council and the land

remains undesignated.

Most recently, the National Trust has prepared the Trengwainton Gardens Statement

of Significance. This highlights the importance of the designed landscape’s setting and

extensive views: Trengwainton House stands at the height of the Garden and its

prominent facades are a major constituent of the upper garden. However, the principal

feature of this area is the extensive views, from the House through a gap in the planting to

St Michael’s Mount and from the lawn and Terrace over farmland to a panorama of

Mounts Bay from Mousehole round to the Lizard Point.(12).



3.4.2 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Landscape Character Study

Trengwainton’s registered landscape lies in two Landscape Character Areas (LCAs).

The southeastern half falls within CA04 Mount’s Bay and the northwestern half lies

within CA03 Penwith Central Hills.

The key characteristics of CA03 have been listed in the LCA Description (Cornwall

County Council, 2008) as:

• Core of an exposed, windswept granite peninsula rising to a chain of gently rounded

hills with prominent rocky outcrops.

• Rugged boulder-strewn moorland of Lowland Heathland, bracken and scrub on the

upland areas.

• Open landscape with few trees except linear broadleaved woodland in small river

valleys, shallow depressions and around farmsteads.

• Prominent rocky outcrops.

• Internationally important concentration of archaeological remains from Neolithic,

Bronze and Iron Ages through to the medieval and post-medieval periods, with

extensive remains of post-medieval mining.

• Historically important, small scale, field pattern with sinuous boundaries, much of it

of prehistoric origin. Hedges often drystone, without earth.

• Dispersed small granite farmsteads and small nucleated hamlets/villages.

• Pasture and rough ground dominate with some arable/horticulture to the south and

east.

• Highly visible evidence of tin mining, china clay and quarrying.

• Extensive views to north and south coast from highest hills.

Pressures on this landscape character include the development of wind farms and

communication masts on sensitive exposed sites.

The key characteristics of CA04 have been listed in the LCA Description (Cornwall

County Council, 2008) as:

• Large-scale extensive curving south-west facing bay and hinterland towards the

western end of county.

• Large settlements, Penzance and Newlyn, concentrated at the western end of the

bay.

• Mixed land cover of farmland in medium-scale pattern with wooded river valleys.

• High quality arable and horticulture and some pasture.

• Exposed narrow natural open flat foreshore with St Michael's Mount the major

landmark.



• St Michael's Mount occupies a high, small, rocky island linked to the mainland by a

causeway to Marazion.

• Large area of Reedbeds and open water with Saline Lagoon at Marazion Marsh

• Well wooded, with many small farm woodlands, Wet Woodland in valleys, many

hedgerow trees and characteristically tall Cornish hedges, particularly along the

lanes.

• Intimate and contained natural river floodplain, internally unenclosed with ribbon

development along edges.

• Main rail and road communications corridor.

Trengwainton is listed as one of the historic features in the LCA, along with the

other ornamental landscapes at Castle Horneck and Trevethoe, and the unusual Iron

Age hillfort of Lesingey Round is also specifically mentioned. St Michael’s Mount is

described as a dominant topographical and historic feature, and other distinctive

features included the church towers of St Mary’s, Penzance, Ludgvan, Gulval and

Madron. Residential, commercial and industrial development associated with

Penzance/Newlyn was cited as a pressure on the landscape. One of the Planning and

Management Guidelines is to Conserve key viewpoints of St Michael’s Mount; survey bay

area to define key view corridors and protect them from intrusive development or

concealment.

3.4.3 National Character Area

While the Local Character Areas are restricted to single counties or districts,

National Character Areas (NCAs) define the geographical, ecological and historical

variations in landscape character on a national level, with character area borders

following natural rather than administrative boundaries. Trengwainton lies within

NCA 156 West Penwith, described as a sparsely populated peninsula separated from

the rest of Cornwall by a low-lying isthmus (land adjacent to the A30 between Hayle and

Penzance). It has a number of small villages, narrow ancient lanes bounded by granite

walls and considerable wildlife value.

3.4.4. Cornwall Historic Landscape Characterisation Study

A countywide Historic Landscape Characterisation study was undertaken by

Cornwall County Council in 1994 as part of the general Landscape Assessment

(published in 1996). It was funded by the Countryside Commission, English Heritage

and Cornwall Council. The registered landscape at Trengwainton was classed as

Ornamental, as was the area of moorland around Trengwainton Carn. Farmland



between the moor and the registered landscape and immediately around West

Lodge was identified as Farmland: post medieval, while the rest of the agricultural

landscape setting was classed as Farmland: prehistoric.

In the associated written analysis of each landscape type, Trengwainton’s ornamental

landscape is discussed as being a later garden, smaller, darker and more intricately

planned, being enclosed by planted shelter belts and is grouped with the other examples

of Heligan, Trebah and Glendurgan. Farmland: post medieval is summarised as Land

enclosed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, usually from land that was previously Upland

Rough Ground and often medieval commons. Generally in relatively high, exposed or

poorly-drained parts of the county. Characteristics include straight boundaries,

drystone walls, less mature or varied vegetation cover, little woodland, and usually

pasture. Farmland: prehistoric is defined as The agricultural heartland, with farming

settlements documented before the 17th century AD…and whose field patterns are

morphologically distinct from the general straight-sided fields of later enclosure. Either

medieval or prehistoric origins. Other characteristics include relatively sheltered land,

network of deeply cut winding lanes, irregular farming settlements – often shrunken

hamlets, typically tranquil and rich in archaeology.

3.5 Conclusion

• The study area consists of several nationally and locally significant heritage assets,

including a grade II* registered landscape, seven listed buildings and structures,

and five historic features identified by the Cornwall Historic Environment

Record. These assets are surrounded by numerous historic features and sites,

largely associated with prehistoric settlement and ancient field enclosures.

• The National Planning Policy Framework highlights the importance of setting to

the significance of a heritage asset and how local authorities should assess the

impact on setting when evaluating a development proposal.

• English Heritage guidance reinforces the general principles of the NPPF and

notes how setting is commonly expressed in visual terms, but is also intrinsically

linked with other environmental factors, spatial associations and the historic

relationship between places. Setting is more extensive than curtilage, can make

a positive or negative contribution and is not dependent on public access. A

wider designed setting with key views and deliberate screening can be critical to

a designed park or garden.



• Understanding and recognition of the importance of the setting of heritage

assets is noted in other regional and international conservation policy.

• The Local Plan heritage policies seek to protect listed buildings and registered

landscapes and their settings, although any decision-making will be balanced with

other non-heritage plan policies.

• Trengwainton lies adjacent to the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

and within an Area of Great Landscape Value and an Area of Great Historic

Value. The grounds around Trengwainton House and the wooded valley have

been designated as an Area of Great Scientific Value.

• The Cornwall Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment has identified two

potential development sites southeast of Heamoor and these areas are also

shown on the consultation map for the Penzance and Newlyn Framework. A

further potential development site has been identified between Castle Horneck

and Trereife Farm.

• Previous reports on the history and conservation of Trengwainton have

identified the importance of the external views, particularly those towards

Mount’s Bay from the Terrace. In 1998, the significant role played by the

farmland to the northeast, east and southeast of Trengwainton in the setting of

the registered landscape was highlighted in a report to support the extension of

the Area of Great Landscape Value.

• Trengwainton lies within the Penwith Central Hills and the Mount’s Bay local

Landscape Character Areas, and the West Penwith National Character Area.

It is mapped as a historic ornamental landscape, surrounded by farmland of

prehistoric origin and farmland created by post-medieval enclosure of moorland.



4.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

4.1 The following section summarises the history of Trengwainton and concludes with

some of the key aspects of the heritage assets.

4.2 Early history

4.2.1 The landscape around Trengwainton is rich in prehistoric archaeological features

and findspots, and falls within the Penwith Moors and Coast Area of Great Historic

Value (as designated by the former local authority, Penwith District Council, and

remaining current until adoption of the Cornwall Council Local Plan). This has been

designated for its extensive archaeological remains, which form what is described as

one of the greatest concentrations of Scheduled Monuments in Britain. It also has good

surviving examples of ancient field systems and considerable industrial heritage. To

the northwest of the house and gardens is Trengwainton Carn and Hill. An

archaeological assessment in 2010 identified 41 sites and 31 historic field boundaries

in this area of moor and heath, including many prehistoric and medieval features,

ranging from chambered tombs to a suspected post-medieval shooting stand, the

evidence suggesting dense, varied and long-term use of the moor.

4.2.2 The area to the southeast of Trengwainton played a significant defensive role in the

local area, featuring the prehistoric hillfort of Lesingey Round and, what is thought to

have been, a twelfth century castle known as Castle Horneck. The latter was later

incorporated into an eighteenth century house of the same name and occupied by

the Borlase family. The surrounding agricultural landscape has been classed as

Anciently Enclosed by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, recognising a field pattern

and prehistoric finds that suggest the land has been farmed for thousands of years.

Castle Horneck and Lesingey were two of the many medieval farming hamlets that

are recorded around Trengwainton. Some of these grew into villages, while others

remain today as single houses, hamlets or farmsteads. Penzance, two miles away,

originated as a medieval fishing village and small market town, only growing to its

present size in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

4.3 Gentleman’s Manor House, pre 1813

4.3.1 Evidence for the nature and extent of the Trengwainton estate during the

seventeenth and eighteenth century is limited. From 1668 to 1760, it was held by

the Arundell family, and a 1692 date stone on the house provides evidence for a late



seventeenth century building campaign (2). In 1758, a sale advertisement suggests

that it was a fairly modest mansion or large manor house, with stables, a coach

house and a walled garden (8). No mention is made of a park or more extensive

pleasure grounds, but the holding included a great number of tenements, a quay at

Newlyn and came with the lordship of Trengwainton. It is also notable that, in 1758,

even before the laying out of the park, the picturesque views of Mount’s Bay from

the house were a significant feature of the landscape, noted in the sale particulars –

from the House there is a pleasant extensive Prospect both by Sea and Land (8).

4.3.2. The property remained a Barton under its subsequent owners, the Praeds, until being

sold to Sir Rose Price in 1813 (1,3). The Ordnance Survey surveyor’s drawing

(1809), subsequently printed as the Old Series in 1813 (figure 2), provides the

earliest cartographic evidence found to date, recording Trengwainton just before

major changes were undertaken by Price. The house was located on one side of a

tree-lined road that climbed Trengwainton Hill to the northwest. The avenue

suggests an early attempt at designing the approach to Trengwainton from Penzance.

4.4 Regency Mansion and Park, 1813-34

4.4.1 Under Sir Rose Price, Trengwainton was completely transformed with a remodelled

house, extensive pleasure grounds and parkland designed by family friend, George

Brown, together with substantial walled gardens (1). Eighteenth century building

fabric in the present Trengwainton House indicates that the house was not

relocated, but its 1809 setting was radically altered and the overall layout of the

landscape that survives today was established. Price’s successor, Lewis Stephens, did

little to develop the designed landscape at Trengwainton and so it seems likely that

the landscape mapped on the tithe plan of 1840 represents the work of Price and

Brown. Price’s Folly, Sir Rose Price’s previous ambitious but abandoned project,

south of Trengwainton, on the hilltop overlooking Newlyn, is proof of his

determination to establish a grand, hilltop residence overlooking the harbours to the

great picturesque views of Mounts Bay. Conserving the Mounts Bay and Newlyn

views is therefore vital in protecting the overriding design principle of the early

nineteenth century landscape.

4.4.2 The tree-lined road mapped in 1809 was slightly realigned and made into a private

drive to the house, which gently made its way alongside a belt of trees. Within the

belt was a secondary walk or drive, gently meandering through what was mapped by



the tithe surveyors as plantation, and almost certainly was one large wooded area of

pleasure grounds. Open farmland to the north of the main drive, with openings

alongside pleasure ground walks, suggest places where views of the surrounding

landscape were enjoyed, in particular, due south of the house, to the east. This was

later formalised as the main terrace and, with the House, was a principal designed

viewpoint in the pleasure grounds. The main façade of the house also faced east,

towards Penzance and St Michael’s Mount, with stables and yards tucked away to

the northwest. A single gate lodge marked the entrance to the estate and stood

adjacent to extensive walled gardens and the estate hamlet of Nanseglos.

4.4.3 Large areas of the previously open farmland and moor that formed the wider setting

of Trengwainton were planted with trees some time between 1809 and 1840. This

was described by Cooke in 1829 – considerable exertions have been made to raise

plantations, and to clothe the granite hills behind it [Trengwainton] with wood (4). This

phase of tree planting included a valley to the southwest of the house. The stream

had been dammed to form three pools, one of which functioned as a duck decoy,

while the others would have provided for fishing, boating or ice for the nearby new

icehouse (2).

4.4.4 In the context of this study, it is important to note that Brown and Price carefully

planted tree belts either side of the farmland to the east and southeast of

Trengwainton house. These played an important role over the succeeding decades,

as the trees grew, in framing the views of Penzance and Mount’s Bay and enhanced

the parkland-like characteristics of the agricultural land in the foreground. This

planting also indicates the early importance of this principal designed southeast view,

from the main terrace, reiterated by an undated nineteenth century watercolour

(Viewpoint Sheet 3) and in the 1835 sale particulars – interesting almost beyond

description, and so picturesque as certainly not to yield to any other in the county. St

Michael’s Mount presents an object that has for ever and anon afforded delight to the

intelligent traveller and history has not failed to record it as an object of considerable

interest. The Bay of Naples is not infrequently called to mind in partaking at leisure of the

delightful Panorama which is presented. There is almost perpetual Italian sky prevailing in

this favoured district…(5). The undated watercolour is dated to circa 1840, as it is

believed to have been applied to a fireplace at A la Ronde by Mary Parminter

(d.1849), and shows the views before the plantations matured.



4.5 Decline and Revival 1835-1961

4.5.1 Sir Rose Price’s successor, Lewis Stephens, appears to have had no intention of

occupying or maintaining Trengwainton as a grand country house, partially

demolishing and letting the mansion, and subdividing the estate for commercial

purposes (3). However, the uninterrupted view of Mount’s Bay from the main terrace

continued to capture the imagination of visitors and commentators, such as

Twycross in 1846 (7).

4.5.2 In 1866, the freehold estates of Trengwainton, Nanseglos, Boswednan, Boswarthen,

Pulteggan and Hendra were advertised for sale as a single lot. The estate was

purchased by T. S. Bolitho, a banker and descendent of an ancient Cornish family

who had prospered from the mining industry. The sales particulars included an

estate plan (figure 3), very similar to the earlier tithe map, and an engraving of a view

of Trengwainton House with Mount’s Bay in the background (Viewpoint Sheet 2).

4.5.3 Thomas S. Bolitho (1808-87) and his son, Thomas R. Bolitho (1840-1925), extended

and remodelled the house and developed the pleasure grounds (1,2). Bolitho’s Bank

had a central commercial role in Penzance from 1806 to 1905. Their works are

recorded on the first and second editions of the 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps

(figure 4), and on a series of detailed plans made in 1877 to record Trengwainton’s

water supply and drainage. Additions in the 1870s included Trengwainton Farm to

the north of the mansion; a formalised, surfaced terrace on the remodelled eastern

façade of the house as well as the reworked main terrace along the pleasure ground

boundary to the south; and the reworking of Price’s woodland walk into the new

Penzance approach drive, with a turning circle outside the north front and a spur

drive to the stables. It is presumed this latter work was to enhance the approach

drive, but also to expand the space for garden planting.

4.5.4 By 1908, the date of the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map, the approach

drive had been altered once again. What was referred to as the Old Carriage Drive in

the 1877 drainage plans was re-adopted as the main drive from the entrance lodge.

The previous ‘new’ drive was retained as a garden path, whilst the re-established

route ran along the northern side of the pleasure grounds, bounding an area of park-

like pasture, cleared of field boundaries and planted with clumps and a few infield

trees. Further extensions of mixed tree planting around the fringes of the pleasure

grounds and removal of field boundaries to the south, together indicate a conscious



effort to create a greater parkland setting to the house and gardens. Notably the

drive shelterbelt had been widened with new planting, to improve shelter in the

pleasure ground, slightly restricting the main terrace views.

4.5.5 In 1894, the Gardeners’ Chronicle magazine visited Trengwainton. The article

concentrated on the walled gardens and, of the rest of the pleasure grounds,

reported that the flower gardens near the house do not call for particular notice, except

the lovely views (obtainable from the terrace on the south side of the building), of Mount’s

Bay and St Michael’s Mount (6). Once again this highlights the ongoing key role of the

eastern Mount’s Bay views throughout Trengwainton’s history. By 1908, the south

terrace ha-ha had been extended into the surrounding parkland allowing the

Mount’s Bay views to be enjoyed from a more spacious terrace and front lawn to

the east and south of the house.

4.5.6 Lt. Col. E.H.W. Bolitho, who inherited Trengwainton in 1925, is credited with the

major development of the gardens. His plant collections were inspired and

influenced by fellow plantsmen, particularly J.C. Williams of Caerhays, P. D. Williams

of Lanarth, Canon Boscawen of Ludgvan, George Johnstone of Trewithen and

Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote (1). Under Lt Col Bolitho’s capable gardener, Alfred

Creek, seeds gathered from northeast Assam and the Mishmi Hills by plant

collector, Frank Kingdon-Ward, formed the foundation of a significant

rhododendron collection at Trengwainton in the late 1920s and 1930s. The gardens

were opened to the public in 1931 and attracted large numbers of visitors (4).

4.5.7 While there was considerable development of the gardens, the map evidence for the

mid twentieth century recorded relatively few changes to the overall layout of the

designed landscape surrounding Trengwainton House. The terrace and east lawn

remained principal viewpoints, and the approach drive continued to enjoy views of

the parkland pasture to the east. However, the wider landscape setting of

Trengwainton to the southeast changed during the twentieth century with the

expansion of Penzance. Development of the former outlying villages of Heamoor

(figure 5) and Alverton was particularly extensive and, while the topography of the

land helped to screen much of the suburbs, housing around Heamoor and tall

developments in Penzance, notably Penwith College, have encroached into

Trengwainton’s historic views (in which, only the distant roof-tops in the centre of

Penzance were previously visible) and have, to an extent, undermined the estate’s



rural context. In response to this, and to storm damage, the ‘drive’ shelterbelt has

been further widened since 1963 to improve shelter, and reinforce the planted

screen between the main terrace, and views towards the reservoirs and Heamoor.

4.6 Conclusion

• Trengwainton is a nationally important historic designed landscape

incorporating several listed buildings and locally designated features and sites. It

lies within an ancient landscape, with extensive evidence for prehistoric

settlement and very early field enclosure.

• A large house has been standing at Trengwainton since at least 1692, with

extensive tenements, a quay at Newlyn and the lordship of the Manor of

Trengwainton.

• The general layout of today’s landscape originates from the pleasure grounds

laid out by Sir Rose Price in the 1820s to a design by George Brown. The

collection of rhododendrons, magnolias and other half-hardy trees and shrubs

planted by the Bolitho family in the early and mid twentieth century is of

national importance.

• The views of St Michael’s Mount and Mount’s Bay have been a key feature of

Trengwainton since at least 1758. In the 1820s, Sir Rose Price created a terrace

to maximise experience of this view and it was also fundamental to the design

of the house during various remodelling phases of the late 1800s.

• Since the 1850s, Penzance has expanded, bringing built development closer to

the Trengwainton Estate. Development has also encroached on the principal

Mount’s bay views. These changes reflect the changing nature of the setting of

Trengwainton over the last 150 years, but the recent higher level and larger

scale development illustrate the damage that can be caused when the scale and

nature of change is not controlled.



5.0 THE VISUAL ENVELOPE

5.1 Identifying the Visual Envelope

5.1.1 The visual envelope of the registered landscape has been assessed through mapping

a Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV), using satellite-derived digital surface

modelling, as detailed in paragraphs 2.2.6 to 2.2.9 above. This has produced an

objective assessment of the area within which changes in land use and the

development of structures ranging from 0.5m, 7m (a typical house height), 10m and

12m (typical industrial units) will be visible from Trengwainton, and, therefore, could

have an influence or effect on the visual amenity and historic integrity of the heritage

assets. Being computer modelled, the zone of theoretical visibility does not take

into account the subjectivity of the human eye, nor the loss or growth of individual

trees that may highlight or obscure particular features or views.

5.1.2 In order to identify the ZTV for Trengwainton, the two most significant viewpoints

within the registered landscape were selected, and used to generate the plans.

These were identified as the first floor of Trengwainton House, and the garden

Terrace, significant because:

• both have functioned as designed, purpose-built viewpoints during the history of

Trengwainton. Views to Mount’s Bay are integral to the use and experience of

the buildings, the registered landscape and their setting;

• the House and Terrace provide the highest accessible viewpoints in the

landscape and, therefore, both viewpoints provide the greatest extent of views

over the landscape and its setting;

• the Terrace is readily and regularly accessible by modern visitors to

Trengwainton as part of the visitor experience since the property opened to

the public in 1931.

5.2 ZTV Analysis

5.2.1 The Zones of Theoretical Visibility for Trengwainton are illustrated in figure 8, from

the House, and figure 9, from the Terrace. The following overall observations can

be made.

5.2.2 From Trengwainton House, clear views could be obtained (were development to

take place) of standard built development, such as two-storey houses, on higher

ground north of Gulval, between Heamoor and Trevaylor, across Southern



Heamoor, around Penwith College location, north of Lesingey Round, west of

Alveton, and north of Newlyn. In winter, or in the event of tree dieback or storm

damage, a much wider area could become visible. Taller development (10m-12m in

height) southwest of Madron would become visible, and this area will become more

sensitive with the progressive decline of the shelterbelt which currently obscures

some views to Madron Church.

5.2.3 From the terrace, even ground level (0.5m) development is highly visible on the

north-facing slopes between Lesingey and Heamoor. This area helps to define the

core setting area on figure 10. Higher level development (10m-12m in height) east

of Gulval, north of Newlyn and around southern Heamoor would be visible,

together with parts of Alverton, and Penwith College area.



6.0 THE SETTING

6.1 Identifying Setting

6.1.1 The ZTV provides the base work for one of the three methods of identifying setting,

based on English Heritage’s Conservation Principles, that of visibility. This information

now needs to be combined with an understanding of the context and function of the

landscape surrounding Trengwainton to establish heritage significance within a view

and to complete the identification of the setting, its contribution to significance, and

its sensitivity to change.

6.1.2 The setting of Trengwainton’s house and registered landscape plays an essential part

in the significance and character of the heritage assets. Unlike the visual envelope,

setting is a subtler concept, to include the surrounding landscape that influences how

Trengwainton’s heritage is experienced and understood. Setting, therefore, is not

just to do with visual amenity or what can and cannot be seen, but also relates to

the cultural and functional relationships, past and present, of the historic site and its

local landscape, and also how the historic landscape contributes to, and integrates

with, the surrounding landscape character and contributes to Trengwainton’s

significance. Unlike the objective process in identification of the ZTV, identifying

setting is more conditioned by subjective judgement, and the priorities or knowledge

of a particular generation.

6.1.3 The identified setting of Trengwainton has been plotted for the purposes of this

study in figure 10, distinguishing between the core setting and the wider setting.

The outer line of each setting has been subdivided into sections and the rationale for

the boundary line is discussed further in 6.3 below.

6.2 Analysis of Views

6.2.1 The analysis of views, illustrated on Viewpoint Sheets 1 to 22, has three specific

purposes to contribute to identification of the setting of Trengwainton:

i. to check and assess the validity of the ZTV modelling, illustrated on figures 8

and 9, in particular noting the condition of vegetation screens, and the potential

for seasonal changes;

ii. to assess the survival and significance of known historic views to or from

Trengwainton, taken from historic research;



iii. to assess the role and significance of landscape character and condition to our

understanding of Trengwainton.

6.2.2 From each of the viewpoints, there is one or more views, which are described in

this study as follows:

Principal Views are the views of greatest importance, and which reveal most about the

significance of Trengwainton. These are the primary designed views which explain

why Trengwainton and its landscape was laid out where it is, and why. The principal

views are those of St. Michael’s Mount and the wider Mount’s Bay from

Trengwainton House and the garden terraces, and reflect a clear appreciation of the

picturesque qualities of the site.

Key Views are the main identified designed views, by reference to recorded historic

views, the alignment of historic paths and gaps in plantations, and similar evidence.

Other designed views may well exist, but have not yet been identified, and might

only be revealed by further research. These key views are mostly outward views

but, at Trengwainton, a few of the intended inward views associated with known

approach routes or circuit ridings are also considered to be key views, where there is

a historic record, as with viewpoints 9 and 16.

Other inward views include views from within the historic estate, and beyond, where

Trengwainton plays a significant or distinctive role in the character and quality of the

local landscape.

6.2.3 A summary of the views is included in table 1 below, and described and illustrated in

detail on sheets 1 to 22.



Table 1 Trengwainton Views

View Category Viewpoint No. From To Condition Significance Principal Outward

1 House (listed building)

Lesingey Round Newlyn, sea

Rural and picturesque character partly eroded

Key picturesque view from house, rationale for site and landscape design.

Lost 2 East Terrace St. Michael’s Mount, Mounts Bay and distant view of Penzance

Lost to later planting, and expansion of the town to Heamoor

Historic record only

Principal Outward

3,4 Main Terrace Great arc of Mounts Bay, from St. Michael’s Mount to Price’s Folly

Largely intact except tree growth just screening out St. Michael’s Mount, intrusion of part of new development at Heamoor, and Lesingey.

Evolving, kinetic view, the central feature of the designed landscape demonstrating Picturesque appreciation. The main view appreciated by visitors today.

Principal Outward

5 House (listed building) and Front Lawn

St. Michael’s Mount Impacted by new turbine and high building at Penwith College, hence largely abandoned to tree and shrub growth.

Following loss of the historic view from viewpoint 2, this is the last designed view from the House to Mounts Bay.



Key Outward 6 Drive Madron Church Mounts Bay

External view largely obscured at present by precautionary screen planting due to development in Madron, leaving only the internal view. Capable of resolution. Nanseglos plantation blocks view to Mounts Bay.

Designed view on the approach, part of Picturesque design.

Key Inward 7 Drive Parkland Intact Designed view on approach.

Key Inward 8 Walled Garden Axial doorway view to trees

Intact Part of garden layout, involving the notable or even unique ‘ark’ garden.

Key Inward 9 Boscathnoe Lane Entrance lodges (one listed building)

Largely intact First view, conveying order, taste, now made more formal by the second lodge.

Key Outward and Inward

10 Footpath Madron Church, Trengwainton Carn, parkland, Mounts Bay

Part surviving. Penwith College building impacts on view to St. Michael’s Mount. Farm buildings largely block view to the Carn.

Historic and publicly accessible view of and from the edge of the designed registered landscape.

Key Outward 11 Footpath, pedestrian gate from house.

Trengwainton Carn, wider hinterland, Home Farm.

Largely intact, limited partly by farm buildings.

Evidence of access through and around northern screen belt. Within AONB.



Key Outward 12 Zig-zag drive Wooded valley with ponds

Largely disused, but surviving.

Evidence of the link and appreciation of the western valley and west drive. Within registered landscape.

Key Outward and Inward

13 Boswednan gate. West drive woodlands. Largely disused, but surviving.

Evidence of the link and appreciation of the western valley and west drive. Within registered landscape.

Key Inward 14 Pond Pond Neglected but surviving Evidence of romantic and artistic appreciation as well as functional use for sport. Within registered landscape.

Longer distance inward

15 Polclose Home Farm Intact Evidential role of the improved agricultural Home Farm in sustaining the estate. Within AONB and AGHV.

Longer distance inward Key view

16 Trengwainton Carn Trengwainton, Madron Church and Workhouse, distant view of Penzance, Mounts Bay.

Largely intact Evidence of the breadth of the landscape setting to the Picturesque landscape and estate, contrasting the rough carn, symbolised by goats, with the ancient stones of Madron Church and St. Michael’s Mount, and the productive Home



Farm, Madron Workhouse, Penzance town centre buildings and sweep of the bay. Within AONB and AGHV.


17 Boswednan footpath Trengwainton and wider landscape

Largely intact Part of the historic agricultural estate, with wooded Trengwainton acting as a boundary between the distant development and ancient farmland. Within AGHV.


18 Tremethick Cross Trengwainton and wider landscape

Largely intact Part of the historic agricultural estate, with wooded Trengwainton acting as a boundary between the distant development and ancient farmland. Within AGHV.


19 West Lodge Trengwainton landscape

Largely intact Illustrates the striking design quality of the Trengwainton plantations, which modify and soften the adjacent ancient farmed landscape. Within AGHV.




20 Lesingey Trengwainton landscape

Largely intact Illustrates the striking design quality of the Trengwainton plantations, which modify and soften the adjacent ancient farmed landscape.


21 Near Rosehill, footpath Trengwainton landscape

Largely intact, but subject to some visible urban fringe.

Illustrates the striking design quality of the Trengwainton plantations, which modify and soften the adjacent ancient farmed landscape.


22 Adjacent Boscathnoe, footpath Trengwainton landscape

Partly intact, but subject to some notable urban fringe intrusion.

The plantations of the Trengwainton landscape help to separate it from the foreground urban fringe activity in summer.



6.3 The Wider Setting

6.3.1 The setting defined by Conservation Principles, includes:

• The surroundings in which a place is experienced,;

• ..its local context, including elements which appear in the same view as the

registered landscape;

• present and past relationships which include historic estate ownership, the water

catchment area for the valley ponds, but may include other linkages to the

medieval and prehistoric context yet to be fully identified.

6.3.2 Depending on the nature of the historic landscape, some parts of its setting will be

more sensitive than others, and therefore more or less able to accept change of a

particular type or scale, without unacceptable adverse effects upon its character.

The sensitivity of the wider setting areas to development is generally lower than the

sensitivity of the core areas due to location and visibility. However, this sensitivity is

entirely dependent on the nature of the development and needs to be judged on a

case-by-case basis.

6.3.3 The setting area identified on figure 10 includes the areas of core setting, (where the

registered landscape is sensitive to changes in landscape management and land use,

as well as built development); and the wider setting. The wider setting is sensitive

to larger scale changes in the character of the landscape, as set out below.

6.3.4 However, an even wider area, particularly along the line of principal and key views,

should be reviewed whenever large size or highly visible developments are under

consideration. Examples include tall developments (telecommunication masts, wind

turbines and the like), large buildings, extensive night time lighting (trunk road

service area, floodlit sports pitches etc.), and highly reflective features (such as solar

panels, glasshouses, and field-scale fabric ‘cloche’ systems).

6.3.5 In order to identify the wider visual setting of the Trengwainton heritage assets, 22

viewpoints into and out of the registered landscape were analysed to understand

their significance, landscape character, the current issues affecting their quality and

integrity, and their sensitivity to change. The findings of this analysis are illustrated in

Viewpoint Sheets 1 to 22, attached to this report, summarised on table 1.



6.3.6 Analysis of the 22 views looking into and out of the registered landscape reveals six

broad character types that lie within the two county Landscape Character Areas

(LCAs) of the Penwith Central Hills and Mount’s Bay and, together, form the wider

landscape setting of Trengwainton (figure 10). Both the LCAs and the Historic

Landscape Characterisation (HLC) have been used, but modified, to establish

character types, for three reasons:

i. As a setting study, the discrepencies between the mapping of the LCAs and

HLCs for the registered landscape are not considered material. The LCA

divides the ornamental landscape along an ill-defined boundary into two LCAs,

yet it is described in only one.

ii. The subdivision of the anciently enclosed HLC is considered, for the purposes of

this report, to be a reflection on the condition of the HLC, rather than a

fundamental character description. The landscape between Trengwainton and

Rosehill is therefore described as anciently enclosed.

iii. Recently developed areas of Heamoor within the mapped setting are treated

differently from the historically built-up areas under HLC, and are not allocated

a defined landscape character type in this study.

The HLCs have therefore been modified and adapted to create the following six

historic landscape character types, as mapped on figure 10:

6.3.7 Anciently Enclosed Pastoral Farmland

Description

Ancient enclosed pastures on the open hillside possess a strong prehistoric

character, with distinctive wrought iron gates as a link to the Bolitho estate. The

estate boundary in 1866 is plotted on figure 10.

Role as Wider Setting

Open and exposed, allowing long distance views over the Penwith landscape.

Backdrop to the northwestern area of ponds in the registered landscape.

The Trengwainton landscape forms part of the boundary to this Landscape

Character type. The southeastern part is affected by reservoir and infrastructure

development close to Penzance.



6.3.8 Boulder-strewn Moorland – Trengwainton Carn

Description

Boulder-strewn moorland which has lost its ‘ornamental’ overlay since the removal

of invasive rhododendron and conifers.


Principal inward viewpoint, but also with deep historical layers of land use. Critical

as a contextual link between the Penwith ‘hinterland’ of moors and mines, and the

commerce of Penzance, and Picturesque qualities of Mount’s Bay. The potential role

of the woodland, small fields, cross and holy well north of Carn Lodge merit further

historic research, and were part of the historic estate.

6.3.9 Linear, Wooded River Valleys

Description

Overgrown, scrubby valley above the pond area.


Catchment area for the ponds, and wildlife corridor. This character type continues

within the registered landscape.

6.3.10 Built-up Areas with visible church towers

Description

The historic town of Penzance, and its surrounding villages, provided the market and

port services required by the historic estates, with links back to a medieval and

spiritual landscape of church towers and Cornish saints.


Distant views to small towns and villages, with a historic centre of landmark

buildings, act as features in designed views and artistic representations of the wider

landscape. The modern extent of Madron is mapped, as it continues to be clustered

around two core structures, the church and Mount View. Notably, the modern

extension of Heamoor within the mapped setting was not included in the description

of this part of the HLC.

6.3.11 Mixed arable and pastoral farmland with wooded hedgerows and valleys

Description

Post-medieval rectilinear enclosures and estate farms, with woodland belts where

there is no topographic shelter. More intensively managed.




Direct, productive link to the improved and parkland landscape, with the park’s

perimeter shelterbelts to frame views and increase productivity.

6.3.12 Ornamental landscapes of Castle Horneck, Rosehill, Nancealverne and

Roscadghill

Description

Historic, ornamental landscapes outside historic Penzance town, with striking

seaward views and Picturesque views of Mount’s Bay. Ornamental mixed planting

and pocket parks, now converted to residential and holiday use. Castle Horneck,

for example, is a Youth Hostel.


Planting frames hilltop views, but also creates visual balance across the vale to

Trengwainton, and hints at a landscape ‘conversation’ between the properties.

6.4 The Core Setting

6.4.1 English Heritage does not seek to plot or distinguish the essential setting of registered

parks and gardens, in contrast to Cadw’s approach in Wales. In the Setting of

Heritage Assets, a distinction is made between the ‘immediate’ (or core) setting of, for

example, a great house, which might be the park, and the wider setting of that park

which may include lines-of-sight to more distant heritage assets or natural features

beyond the park boundary. The implication of this is that the ‘great house’ might

have both an immediate or core setting and a wider setting. Similarly, a park such as

Trengwainton might also have a core setting and a wider setting. Although the

registered park would normally include all that area subject to conscious designed

works, the core setting could include areas which are needed to complement its

design or function, to enable a present-day appreciation of this. At Trengwainton,

areas of the core setting of the registered landscape should include, therefore,

pastoral land that survives in the immediate setting of the registered landscape,

conserving at least some sense of original rural context of the park and garden, as

well as protecting key designed views to the east. The wider setting, due to the

nature of the relationship with the asset, will generally contribute less to the

significance of the heritage asset than the core setting, although sightlines to more

distant features can be of particular significance, as already established under the

views analysis.



6.4.2 The rural context of Trengwainton is significant for a number of reasons:

• Productive agricultural land forms, in the middle ground, an essentially

picturesque counterpoint to the more sublime and wild landscapes and coastal

seascapes which are the subjects of key designed views, including Mount’s Bay

and Trengwainton Carn.

• Low-lying agricultural land forms an essential middle ground to the principal

designed views to Mount’s Bay from the House and Terrace. These views were

a major, if not, the reason why the sites for Trengwainton House and pleasure

grounds were selected and certainly influenced their subsequent remodelling.

Not only was the scene highly picturesque, centred on the distinctive and iconic

silhouette of St Michael’s Mount, but Mount’s Bay was also vital in Cornish

maritime trading and, with Penzance and Newlyn, played a key role in the

sources of Price’s and the Bolithos’ wealth –respectively, produce from a

Jamaican plantation, and the latter as bankers and shipping agents.

• The rural separation of the estate from the urban area of Penzance reinforces

the role of the heritage assets as a country house and park. This was the

intention of its creators, Sir Rose Price and the Bolitho family, who were

wealthy, ambitious businessmen wanting to reflect and raise their status in

society. Land and a large, private house, which could be handed down to future

generations, were a key element of this aspiration. Land was also central to

political influence in previous centuries.

• As with all country estates, an extensive area of tenanted farmland provided a

major source of income for the landowner. A large part of the core setting of

Trengwainton formed part of the estate and therefore plays a significant

functional role in the development of the heritage assets. The post-medieval

enclosed landscape is a direct association with the history of the ‘improved’

Trengwainton estate.

• It protects the tranquillity of the gardens as a landscape away from the busy

streets of Penzance. Historically, towns were subject to a variety of vices and

ills. Typhus was a particular concern, even in small towns, as late as the early

twentieth century.

• The continuity of the rural setting protects the integrity of as yet unknown

designed views that might be identified in the future (see para 2.2.4 above).

• The ancient enclosure of the western and southern setting creates a distinctive

landscape, to contrast with the designed landscape. This landscape character is

appealing to present-day visitors to Cornwall, as well as of interest to modern



landscape archaeologists. The distinctive wrought iron field gates of Bolitho

estate farms are a notable detail component of the associated rural landscape

(see view 13).

6.4.3 While the town of Penzance and parts of Madron village were historically part of the

setting of Trengwainton, these appear in the historic views as distant, widely

separated and isolated features, focussed on the ornamental buildings, almost like

garden temples widely dispersed around a landscape park. In the picturesque mode,

St. Michael’s Mount and Madron church are the epitome of the gothic; Madron

workhouse is a bold fortress in a heathy wilderness; the dome of the Market house

in Penzance ornaments the beauty of Mount’s Bay. The ordinary town and village

buildings are only very modestly represented. As Penzance grew, Rose Price’s

plantations grew to frame and obscure some of these views. Notably, after 1878,

the southern plantation belts were slightly extended and deepened to reduce views

to Boscathnoe reservoirs, and the Nanseglos plantations has grown to conceal the

view of Poltair House, now Heamoor hospital. More substantial widening of the

belts was undertaken to improve garden shelter in response to storm damage in

1990, but also to improve screening of development at Heamoor after 1963. This

later planting is now also impinging on the principal terrace view 3 to Mounts Bay,

which the Trust plan to reopen by careful thinning.

6.4.4 The core setting area is plotted on figure 10, subdivided into character areas, with

justifications set out below. The areas outside the registered landscape have been

identified through the documentary review, ZTV and views analysis as the immediate

setting of Trengwainton, and, therefore, form the core setting of the designed

landscape with the least capacity for change. These are, as plotted on figure 10:

6.4.5 Core Setting Area 1: Ancient Enclosure – Boswednan Farmland –

Viewpoints 13, 17-20

Character and role as core setting

Tight patchwork of fields, enclosed with scrubby dry stone banks, generally open on

the higher ground. Hedgebank trees in more sheltered areas increase the wooded

character of the farmland, which is predominantly in pasture. Enclosed at a very

early date, this landscape has formed the historic setting of Trengwainton

throughout its history and creates a distinctive rural context to the designed

landscape. It plays an important role as the setting of the wooded valley and ponds



to the northwest of Trengwainton House, created in the 1820s and part of the

registered landscape. The identity of the area as part of the Bolitho estate is

reinforced by the use of signature wrought iron field gates (for example, View 13).

The core setting area is limited to those areas with significant and close visual

connections to the registered landscape.

Vulnerability

This intact part of the landscape setting is highly sensitive to land use change,

removal of field boundaries and the development of farming infrastructure and

development – for instance, at Boswednan – which would alter its landscape

character and the contextual setting of Trengwainton. The ZTV mapping reveals that

development and land use change in this area would not be visible from the principal

viewpoints of the Terrace and Trengwainton House, but private outward, and

western inward views towards the registered landscape would be affected.

6.4.6 Core setting area 2: Trengwainton Carn – Viewpoints 11,16


Formerly rocky and barren high ground around Trengwainton Carn, recently

cleared of rhododendron and conifers, but now partly dominated by gorse. This

part of the setting contrasts with the verdant enclosed farmland and wooded

grounds and valley of Trengwainton, adding visual interest and a reminder of the

wildness and prehistory of the pre-enclosure landscape. Some sense of the

romantic, almost Highland character of the moorland as a setting to Trengwainton is

depicted in nineteenth century paintings (Views 14 and 16). The moorland is an

important part of the setting of Trengwainton, historically forming the backdrop to

views from the wooded valley and ponds, but also as a viewpoint looking over

Trengwainton. The northern area is not included in the core setting as it plays

little direct role in the setting of Trengwainton.

Vulnerability

In recent years, the moorland has been cleared of rhododendron and most of the

‘ornamental’ character previously recorded by the Cornwall Historic Landscape

Characterisation Study in 1994 has been removed. However, it now requires

grazing management to control the regeneration of gorse which is threatening the

rocky and barren landscape character. As open access land, part of the Cornwall

AONB and part of the Bolitho Estate, it is unlikely to be subject to development



issues, although the erection of communication masts and turbines is a special risk to

the setting of this landscape character.

6.4.7 Core setting area 3: Trengwainton Farm – Viewpoints 10,11,1 5, 16


A plateau of larger, more regular, quadrangular fields enclosed by well-defined hedge

banks and mature hedgerows. Mainly consisting of pasture at the time of survey,

they form the planned and ‘improved’ agricultural setting to the perimeter of the

registered landscape and in views of Trengwainton from the Carn. The farmland

plays a limited role in designed views from the house and grounds, with the

exception of a closed pedestrian gateway north of the house and glimpse views

through the trees from woodland rides behind Trengwainton House. This farmland

is as mapped in 1866 and has therefore formed the setting of Trengwainton for at

least 150 years, and remains part of the Bolitho estate.

Vulnerability

This largely intact part of the landscape setting is less sensitive to land use change,

but moderately sensitive to the development of farming infrastructure and

development, as exemplified by new farm buildings, earth bunds and feed hoppers at

Trengwainton Farm. A more intensive farming operation may also have an impact on

the tranquillity of Trengwainton’s rural setting. Expansion of the village of Madron

may also intrude on views from the edge of the registered landscape, however, the

gently rising topography of the land will help to screen the development site

proposed on the north side of the village.

6.4.8 Core setting area 4: Lower Park and Hendra – Viewpoints 1,3,4,20,21,22


The lower park farmland appears in views to and from the registered landscape, but

also retains a productive agricultural character critical to the understanding of the

early estate, complete with the ancient leat to Pulteggan Mill, forming the parish

boundary. Historically, the lower park was more visible from the pleasure ground

walk, until the belt was widened, after 1878, partly to screen the Boscathnoe

reservoir developments. This area was also part of the historically owned estate, as

mapped in 1866.



Vulnerability

This area is vulnerable to further loss of historic landscape fabric, including the lower

well-wooded hedgerows and leat, and development at Pulteggan. Reopening and

restoration of the historic visual links from the gardens to the lower park could only

take place if there is confidence that further development towards Heamoor is

unlikely to occur.

6.4.9 Core setting area 5: Boscathnoe and Approach – Viewpoints 9, 21,22


This area separates the Penzance town fringe from the rural setting of the

Trengwainton landscape, but this character has been weakened by development

west of Mounts Bay Academy secondary school in Heamoor, and by the semi-

derelict, semi-industrial character of the Boscathnoe reservoir sites. Historically,

although largely outside the estate’s ownership, map evidence suggests an enclosed,

pastoral landscape as the approach to Trengwainton, prior to the development of

the reservoirs and orchards either side of the lane, with avenue-like hedgerow tree

planting enclosing the reservoirs from the 19th century. The historic experience of

the approach would have been from town, through village, across countryside,

through avenue, to the gate, providing a sequential, graduated experience. In recent

times, this has developed into a less managed, more wooded and shady final

approach to the Trengwainton entrance. This area is also the key setting for

modern visitors approaching Trengwainton, generating communal as well as aesthetic

values.

Vulnerability

This zone is highly sensitive to continuing degradation comprising residential

development, lighting, urban fringe fencing and infrastructure, and urgently needs a

clear, and robust edge to the already developed area, as well as a robust zone to

separate the park entrance from the urban edge. At present this relies on a narrow

belt of Trust-owned woodland just beyond the registered landscape. A recent pre-

application planning enquiry for the development of 100 dwellings on land south of

Boscathnoe Lane highlights the pressure this area is under in terms of new

development. It is at high risk of losing any rural character and forming an urban

extension of Heamoor. This part of the setting is sensitive to changes which are

bringing urban fringe elements and character closer to the gates of Trengwainton,



risking the loss of the rural breathing space, and its replacement with a much more

abrupt, suburbanised approach.

6.4.10 Core setting area 6: Ancient Enclosure – Rose Hill Farm and Lesingey

Round – Viewpoints 1,3,4, 21 and 22


Patchwork of fields, adjoining the small eighteenth and nineteenth century estates of

Rosehill and Castle Horneck, and modern infrastructure including overhead cable

networks. Mature woodland and numerous hedgebank trees increase the wooded

character of the farmland. While not historically part of the estate, this area plays a

key role as the middle ground in designed eastern and southern views from the

House, pleasure grounds and Terrace (principal viewpoints 1,3 and 4), and is

therefore of evidential, aesthetic and present-day communal value, the Terrace being

the major destination for garden visitors today. The boundaries of this core area

are primarily defined by direct visual links to the registered landscape (see ZTV

analysis under 5.2.3 above). The decline of openness and uninterrupted views

shown in historic illustrations has occurred partly in response to urban fringe

development, as discussed in 6.4.3 above, although the pastoral land use largely

remains as recorded on historic maps. The framed views, that remain, preserve

important parts of the historic views, and the fundamental intent of the original

designed landscape (see 4.4.1 above).

Vulnerability

This largely intact and highly sensitive part of the landscape setting is vulnerable to

land use change, and highly sensitive to development. This has already begun with

the intrusion of housing at Heamoor into the periphery of the setting and the

erection of a mast to the southeast of Lesingey Round, on Mount Pleasant above

Wherrytown. The modern built-up area is no longer part of the adjacent landscape

character type, so is mapped without colour. Several proposed development sites

reveal that this remains an ongoing and relevant issue which could seriously

compromise the integrity of the historic views from Trengwainton towards the sea

and Newlyn. The power lines, the current state of field boundaries, and views to

encroaching development create an ‘urban fringe’ character to some of this land.

Given the impact of the College development on the principal view to St. Michaels

Mount from the house and front lawn (viewpoint 5), the cumulative impacts of

further built development and loss of pastoral context in this second principal view



from the Terrace (viewpoints 3 and 4), over this core area, would probably be

deemed to be of substantial harm to the significance of Trengwainton in National

Planning Policy Framework terms.

6.5. Existing Harmful Impacts

6.5.1 Residential Development on the edge of Penzance

Issue

Expansion of Penzance since the mid-nineteenth century has reduced the rural

separation of Trengwainton from the town. This has escalated in the late twentieth

century, particularly as a result of housing development in and around the previously

outlying village of Heamoor.

Cause

The population of Penzance has grown rapidly over the last century, from 3,088

inhabitants in 1901 to 21,200 in 2011. This has inevitably placed great pressure on

Penzance’s services and housing provision, compounded by a high level of need for

affordable housing.

Recommendation

The Trust should seek for the setting of Trengwainton to be formally recognised and

protected in local planning policy. It is important that this includes the farmland

visible in views from the terrace and house in order to preserve the rural middle

ground and context to the principal designed views. The significance of the

principal views from the Terrace (viewpoints 3 and 4) is at risk if the last remaining

visible pasture in the view were to be lost to development or vegetation screens.

6.5.2 Penwith College development

Issue

In 2010, work was completed on a major redevelopment of Penwith College in

Penzance, including the tall Zennor Building and an associated 50m-high wind turbine

to improve the College’s use of sustainable energy.

Cause

Penwith College was established in 1981 and provides the only source of over-16

education in Penzance, fed by three secondary schools. The visual impact of this

turbine appears not to have been fully considered by the planning process.



Recommendation

All future high-rise development in Penzance should be subject to a Landscape and

Visual Impact Appraisal to Landscape Institute guidelines, to address wider external

views towards the town, including from Trengwainton. At the end of economic life

of the turbine, it should be removed and replaced with alternative technology, or in

a less detrimental location. The principal outward long distance views to Mounts

Bay merit specific protection in Local Plan policy.

6.5.3 Modern infrastructure

Issue

Several views towards Lesingey Round feature a prominent communications mast,

located above Wherrytown, and there is a similar issue in some of the long-distance

views looking to the northwest. The intrusive wind turbine in key views is that at

Penwith College, but there is also a small domestic turbine on the Trengwainton

Estate at Sunny Corner, only visible from a small area. South east of Trengwainton,

close-hand views back to the registered landscape are, in some places, dominated by

criss-crossing overhead services, which detract from the traditional pastoral

landscape setting.

Cause

The impacts of sustainable energy sources and communications infrastructure are

often not understood or acknowledged, particularly because the benefits and the

economic advantages in Cornwall have been considered to outweigh the detrimental

impacts on heritage assets or landscape character. Apart from the specific impact of

the Penwith College wind turbine, the main issue is the impact of such infrastructure

on weakening the landscape character of the setting to the approach from Heamoor,

including the impact of derelict reservoir infrastructure.

Recommendation

The impact of modern infrastructure associated with strategic development on the

setting of heritage assets, and the key designed long distance views, should be

addressed as part of the planning process.



6.5.4 Changes in tree belts

Issue

Mature trees within and around the registered landscape are critical for screening

the parts of Penzance that are most visually intrusive and also play an important role

in framing views from Trengwainton. Loss of these trees could have a serious

impact on the quality of the setting and designed views.

Cause

Climate change and novel tree diseases increase the risk of such losses. By contrast,

trees have also been allowed to grow up to conceal views of adjacent development,

at Penwith College, but also in the past in response to the Boscathnoe reservoirs,

and the spread of housing at Heamoor. This is an arms race which has limits, as

screen trees age, mature, or blow over. Increasing the depth of screen belts, to

allow for periodic regeneration, can also result in the loss of views and historic

character.

Recommendation

Designed views should, in general, be retained open, rather than obscured so as to

screen off site development, wherever development may be short-lived, or where

the visual impact may be reduced at source, for example, by garden and landscape

planting by a developer. This is not always feasible, and the Penwith College turbine

is a case in point. Where this occurs, S.106 or other compensatory funding should

be sought to recreate or reopen equivalent view features, for example, using tree

surgery or selective felling to reopen the view from the east end of the Terrace to

St. Michael’s Mount, or to enhance other vulnerable areas of the landscape setting.

6.6 Potential Future Issues

6.6.1 Further expansion of Penzance and Madron

The Cornwall Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment has identified a

number of sites around the outskirts of Penzance for new development, together

with the identification of the land on the north side of Madron, joining the

workhouse site and the main village. Additional development could impact on the

quality and significance of the setting to Trengwainton, increase traffic, and generate

the need for further communication and transport infrastructure. Proposals for any

such development should be assessed in accordance with national policy and English

Heritage guidance on setting.



6.6.2 Conversion of pasture to arable

Conversion of pasture to arable land depends, in part, on land quality, but farmland

to the south of the terrace was previously cultivated. A key characteristic of

Trengwainton’s setting is its pastoral character. Cultivation of this land as a result of

future changes in agriculture and climate change could undermine this character and

its key role as the foreground in designed views, as well as leading to changes from

closely maintained boundary hedgebanks to overgrown scrub areas where

inaccessible to farm machinery.

6.6.3 Adaption to Change

While this study seeks to identify the key characteristics of the setting of

Trengwainton, so that the significance of the site can be conserved, it is accepted

that landscape is subject to change. Examples of change within the setting which

have not undermined the significance of the site include:

• the ongoing reversion of Trengwainton Carn from an ornamental landscape to

an earlier, semi-natural moorland landscape;

• the intensive cultivation of some part of the ancient Boswednan farmland for

field-scale horticulture, and the associated growth of hedgerows for shelter;

• low level residential development to parts of Madron village;

• adaptive reuse of traditional farm buildings.



7.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 The documented history, the local and national planning policy, and the evidence

from the views analysis, together reveal the high sensitivity of the setting of

Trengwainton, and the specific role of the setting in the significance of the registered

landscape. The surrounding landscape of farmland, woodland, moor and historic

buildings contributes to the registered landscape visually (physically framing the

designed landscape and outward views in particular); functionally, as the source of

water, building materials, estate income, and the place for circuit walks; and

contextually, allowing the modern visitor to experience a small part of the historic

relationship between the ornamental gardens and parkland, and the wider, coastal,

agricultural and geological landscapes. These considerations have defined the areas

of setting as set out above and on figure 10.

7.2 Trengwainton’s historic landscape setting has been affected in the twentieth century

through the demands of modern communications, educational facilities and housing.

In particular, the development of housing at Heamoor, the now-redundant

reservoirs at Boscathnoe, and redevelopment of Penwith College, have all intruded

significantly into this landscape setting and context. While the harm to date is not

considered to be so extensive as to negate the integrity, or preclude the enjoyment

of, Trengwainton’s buildings and designed landscape, which retain many historic

views and vistas, these have been altered and the impact of cumulative change which

threatens to exacerbate previous harm caused by twentieth century development, is

a serious concern.

7.3 The potential for impacts on the defined setting of Trengwainton will need to be an

important planning consideration in future decision-making around the settlement

limit of Penzance. To conserve the setting of the designed historic landscape and

other heritage assets at Trengwainton, the following actions are proposed:

A. Actions for the Trust to seek from Cornwall Council

• Cornwall Council should consult the National Trust on any development within

the setting identified on figure 10, and on any development within the long

distance views shown on figure 10 that might have implications for the

significance of the heritage assets concerned.



• The National Trust should write to Cornwall Council to formally request that

this study should be incorporated into their evidence base to inform the

emerging local plan, including the Site Allocations Plan, and any neighbourhood

plan. The Trust should also seek for the study to be formally recognised within

the emerging local plan.

• The National Trust should also write to Cornwall Council to request that the

study should be published on the Council’s website, and that it be made

possible for applicants for planning permission to easily identify the area within

which the setting study was undertaken and the principal views. This would

assist applicants in determining if the settings of the heritage assets covered by

this study might be affected by their proposed development and whether an

assessment is necessary as part of any historic landscape assessment and

evaluation required in line with Policy 24 in the draft Cornwall Local Plan

(March 2014). Any such assessment of impact should be carried out following

current best practice guidance (The Setting of Heritage Assets – English Heritage

Guidance (2011); and Draft Historic Environment Good Practice Advice in Planning

Note 3: The Setting of Heritage Assets (July, 2014)).

• Further development on the western edge of Penzance should avoid any further

intrusion into the Trengwainton principal views, and should be set at a level, or

otherwise be permanently screened, to avoid adverse impact on the

Trengwainton landscape and its setting. It is especially critical that the farmland

visible in the views from the Terrace should be protected in order to preserve

this principal designed view, noted as the most significant view in the

Trengwainton Garden Conservation Management Plan (2010). Conserving key

viewpoints of St Michael’s Mount, and protection of the key view corridors, was

also identified as an objective in the Planning and Management Guidelines for

Landscape Character Area CA04 Mounts Bay (paragraph 3.4.2).

• Further development on the western edge of Penzance should also seek to

conserve the rural setting and tranquillity of Trengwainton, and, in particular,

the setting of the main approach from Heamoor, and the important separation

of the town edge from the estate entrance.

• In accordance with the recommendation of NPPF paragraph 137 (Local Planning

Authorities should look for opportunities for new development within the

setting of heritage assets to enhance or better reveal their significance),

development in northwest Penzance should include S.106 contributions

towards enhancing the setting of, and improving public access to, National Trust



land and open access land at Trengwainton. These contributions would, of

course, need to pass the legal and policy tests for S.106 agreements.

B. National Trust Management Actions

• The National Trust should make use of the information revealed in this study to

inform its future property management.

• The National Trust should formally request Cornwall Council to address the

actions identified above.

• Measures to enhance the setting of Trengwainton within the National Trust

ownership could include intensified and highly selective management of the main

garden tree belt so as to reopen a designed view from the Main Terrace, west

end, to St. Michael’s Mount.

• This report should be shared with local stakeholders to raise awareness of the

importance of the setting, including the Cornwall Council as highway authority

and in terms of their responsibility for safeguarding the historic environment,

local landowners, and the Town and Parish Councils. It should also be shared

with statutory consultees, including English Heritage, the Garden History

Society, the Cornwall Gardens Trust, the Victorian Society and the Georgian

Society.

C. South West Water Actions

• South West Water should be encouraged to replace the partially redundant

reservoir infrastructure at Boscathnoe, in close proximity to the main approach

of the registered landscape, with a less visually intrusive pumping station if

required, and also to enhance the management of screen woodland separating

Trengwainton from Heamoor.

D. English Heritage Actions

• At the next review of the Register, English Heritage should be asked to review

the addition of the lower park field to the register (see 6.4.8), and the omission

of a field west of the pond at the northwest end of the Register area (shown

with mixed plantation in 1908; felled by 1960s).



E. Other Actions

• With financial support from the New Environmental Land Management Scheme

and other sources, the sheep fold and grazing management of heathland at

Trengwainton Carn should be reinstated, to enhance a key part of the setting of

Trengwainton.

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