1898 – 1930

PGPT062
Date 1920s
Source Photograph in PGPT archives from Green Family

Mr and Mrs Green are shown posing in the garden (cf PGPT 059) on the steps between the remains of the propagating house (Guide book p.33) on the left and the ‘Window’ (cf PGPT 061) on the right. Cf PGPT096 for the appearance of the window after restoration.

Of the other sculptural decorations shown here, only the gargoyle to the right of Mr Green is presently on display in the garden. It was in fact given back to the PGPT in 2011, after spending many years in gardens owned by a descendant of Mr Green.

PGPT017
Date: unknown
Source: Green family album

This view has been taken from the rustic bridge, looking South (cf PGPT001) It appears to be a companion photograph to PGPT006. It is notable that the lawn and main path have been grassed over: the triangles of ivy on the terrace walls (cf 001) have been replaced by ivy ‘columns’, and the elaborate pattern of the flowerbeds in the foreground are similar to those in the 1930s photograph (PGPT )
PGPT018
Date:1890s
Source: Photograph in PGPT archive
The cathedral of St John the Baptist (R.C.) is an immediate neighbour of the Plantation garden. It was built between 1884 and 1910 on the site of the old city gaol. It was built for the 15th Duke of Norfolk and designed by G.G.Scott Jun. Henry Trevor must have been delighted when this prestigious building replaced the gaol, for he had a clear view of it from his garden (cf. PGPT015)
The nave was the first part of the building to be finished, in 1894, so this photograph must date after that.This view is of the East end, on the junction of Unthank Rd and Earlham Rd.
PGPT034
Date 1st quarter 20c
Source of original unknown. This image is a postcard (cf PGPT 032)

The gardener’s cottage in The Plantation is described in the 1897 auction particulars*. In the 1860 census one George Woodhouse* and his family were living in the cottage, and he was still Henry Trevor’s head gardener in 1897 when Henry died. He received a  legacy (£50) from Henry, and took part in the funeral procession, so he had obviously    earned the respect of his employer and the family. The tall chimneys of the cottage can be seen in PGPT002 and 003. The cottage was demolished in the 1960s.

PGPT066
Date 1909
Source Boulton and Paul 1909 catalogue (copy in Norfolk Record Office)
This photograph of the interior of the Palm House, built in 1895, at Carrow House, owned by the Colman family (of Colman’s mustard fame), gives us the best idea we can have of the interior of the Palm House in the Plantation (PGPT003). We know from the 1897 auction particulars that the Plantation Palm House was fitted with a fountain,as shown here in the Carrow one.
Work began on the restoration of the Carrow House Palm House in 2004 (cf article EDP 13.05.2004, which reproduces a Boulton & Paul drawing of the outside)

Fragments of a Doulton fountain, very similar to the fountain in this photograph, were found on the lawn of the Beeches in the 1980s (), and it appears in 20c. photographs taken in that area (PGPT014 and 046).

PGPT033
Date suggested 1920s.
Source of original unknown.
The date on the back of this postcard (cf PGPT032) was probably based on the size of the trees along the West wall. Interesting features are the rustic fence in the lower left hand corner, the steps on the West bank, the urns on the pedestals around the fountain and the eagles(?) on top of the columns in front of the propagating house.
PGPT059
Date 1920s
Source Photograph in PGPT archive

George Green held the lease of the Plantatation from 1919, when he became Mayor, until his death in 1928. He and Mrs Green played a prominent part in various aspects of Norwich public life, and used the garden as a background for many occasions as can be seen in other photographs. This is one of several photographs of them in various parts of the garden.
PGPT060
Date 1920s
Source Photograph in PGPT archive
As mentioned in PGPT059 George Green used the garden for various events. On this occasion he seems to be entertaining the staff of his shops in Norwich and Yarmouth. Everyone is wearing a hat except Mr and Mrs Green!

The wall in the background is the ‘medieval’ wall (Guide book 2009 p33)

Another photograph (cf PGPT060) recording an occasion when George Green welcomed a group of visitors into the garden. Perhaps these were ministers attending a Baptist conference. George Green is wearing the mayoral chain of office.

The group is posing in front of the ‘Window’ built by Henry Trevor as a folly in the garden (Guide book 2009 p34). It was found in fragments during the restoration and restored in the 1990s. There are examples in other Victorian gardens of ecclesiastical fragments, taken from churches when they were ‘restored’ being used as rose arches in gardens. An angel sculpture on the right hand support may well have been produced in a funeral mason’s workshop.

PGPT062
Date 1920s
Source Photograph in PGPT archives from Green Family
Mr and Mrs Green are shown posing in the garden (cf PGPT 059) on the steps between the remains of the propagating house (Guide book p.33) on the left and the ‘Window’ (cf PGPT 061) on the right. Cf PGPT096 for the appearance of the window after restoration.

Of the other sculptural decorations shown here, only the gargoyle to the right of Mr Green is presently on display in the garden. It was in fact given back to the PGPT in 2011, after spending many years in gardens owned by a descendant of Mr Green.

PGPT087
Date 1919/20
Source Photograph in PGPT archive copied from Green family album
When George Green became Lord Mayor in 1919 he wanted to live in an establishment suitable for that office. He settled upon the Plantation, and lived there until his death in 1929. This photograph shows him and Mrs Green setting out in the Mayoral carriage. George Green was a man who had played a considerable part in public affairs – Alderman, member of Board of Guardians, Port Commissioner at Yarmouth, Magistrate, Chair of Sewerage committee. He merits a long entry already in ‘Citizens of No Mean City’ (1909).

Other photographs exist of him and Mrs Green in various parts of the garden (PGPT059,062) and using it to entertain various groups of his staff, ministers, boys’clubs (PGPT060,061,063)

 

PGPT004
Date:1920s
Source: photo in PG archive

Source: photo in PG archive
Group of Baptist ladies who were organising a fête in PG. This was during the period when George Green () lived in the Plantation. He was a strong supporter of St. Mary’s Baptist Church.

This photo was produced (at a talk given in June 2008) by the child of one of the people shown. She said that the lady in white and black hat in centre of 2nd row was the minister’s wife and the young man in the front row in pale trousers almost in front of her became a minister later.

PGPT006
Date: 1920s
Source: Green family album
This is a companion photograph to PGPT017. It is notable that the Palm House has been demolished, and probably a rose garden has replaced it. The ivy on the supporting wall is overgrown (cf PGPT001) as is the bank in front of it. There are at least 3 jets at the top of the fountain.
The gardens immediately around the house look well-cared for, and formal beds and lawns still exist on the North of the house. Several
climbing plants grow on the walls.
The photograph was taken from an upper path on the East bank of the garden.
PGPT005
Date:c.1927
Source:family album of the Page family (cf PGPT016)

This photograph was taken by Brian Page, grandson of the John Joseph Gray Page who was the eldest stepson of Henry Trevor. Bettine Page produced it for the PGPT.
This view was taken from the rustic bridge and can be compared with 001. By this time the Palm House has been demolished and its site turned into a rose garden.

PGPT016
Date:1927
Source: Brian Page, grandson of J.J.G.Page produced this view, looking North from the terrace, with his box camera (cf PGPT005)
Steps can be seen (before the fountain) leading up to the ‘window folly’ ( ), the rustic bridge is just visible beyond the fountain, and the central lawn has become a tennis court with flower beds and main path grassed over. The rockworks on the right look overgrown.
PGT022
Date:1920s
Source: Green family album
Rather poor copies of rather poor photographs from the family album of the Greens. George Green held the lease of the Plantation throughout the 1920s, and here members of his family are playing tennis on the lawn and 2 young children are peeping through the balustrades at the top of the Italian terrace. The ‘balusters’ are an economical design made of bricks – cheaper than buying shaped balusters. Henry Trevor used the same design for the low dividing walls between the houses of the Terrace he built in Chester Place (PGPT)008.
PGPT069, 070, 071
Date 1920s
Source Green family album

These are duplicates of PGPT022

PGPT027
Date:1920s
Source: Green family album
The path on the left has been grassed over to enlarge the lawn for a tennis court. The ivy on the terrace is very overgrown, and so are the plants on the rockworks. There is a structure which was described as an umpire’s stand at the top of the rockworks on the left. When the ‘Gothic Alcove’ was being reconstructed in 2009 an enlargement of the area where it stands to the left revealed only that it was densely covered with ivy.h
George Green liked to use the garden for events during his occupancy, but there is no evidence that he was interested in gardening!
PGPT024, 025, 026
Date unknown, of unknown subjects in the garden.
PGPT063 and 230
Date 1919/20
Source Detail from photograph in Green family album
In the family album. George Colman Green, son of George Green, has written ‘The North Elmham Naval Boys at the Plantation, 1919-20’ On the same page is a photograph of the boys in their sailor hats with the Lady Mayoress (Mrs Green). She can be seen sitting in the background here. Another photgraph (not shown) has George Green standing on the upper lawn with a group of more than 20 school boys from Bethnal Green, London, who were visiting the Plantation.

The balustrading and walls of the Italian terrace (Guide book 2009 p37) rise up behind the seated figures. The Gothic alcove (Guide book 2009 p34), covered with ivy, can be seen at the left, and there seem to be the remains of a large curved window (?) abutting the terrace wall in the centre.

PGPT023
Date:c.1930
Source: see right
This photograph was given to the Trust by Kathleen Barnard, great grand-daughter of Henry Trevor. It was taken by her father, Stanley Trevor, who was one of the two grandsons to whom Henry Trevor left the residue of his estate.

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