Structures

PGPT001
Date:1897
Source: Spelman (auctioneers) included this photograph in their particulars of sale of the lease of the Plantation house and garden. The sale was held after Henry Trevor’s death in May 1897. Re-photographed in 1998 by Sarah Cocke from the original in the NRO.

Source: Spelman (auctioneers) included this photograph in their particulars of sale of the lease of the Plantation house and garden. The sale was held after Henry Trevor’s death in May 1897. Re-photographed in 1998 by Sarah Cocke from the original in the NRO.

This view was taken looking south from the rustic bridge (cf PGPT402). It shows clearly the overall ‘bowl’ shape of the garden, which was built in an old chalk quarry. Even before chalk was quarried flints were mined there.
Various structures can be seen: prominent in the centre is the ‘Gothic’ fountain (cf PGPT298): ‘Italian’ balustrades and terraces (cf PGPT320) can be seen at the far end: the 1871 Palm House and Winter Garden (cf PGPT003) is visible at the right.

H.T’s gardening style is revealed by the emphasis on carpet bedding in the flower beds, with ‘exotics’ as ‘dot’ plants along the edge of the lawn and shrubs and trees planted on the slopes.

PGPT056
Date 1897
Source: Detail of PGPT001

This enlargement shows clearly the propagating house (described in the auction particulars as ‘span-roof…..24ft by 10ft), with the row of finials along the top, an open door and plants standing on the shelf inside. There is also a cold frame behind. On the pedestals around the fountain urns shaped like tree trunks can be seen, and fragments of these have been found in the garden.

PGPT003
Date:1890s
Source: detail from a photograph (PGPT019) taken by ‘John Gavin, Artist, 85, St Giles St., Norwich (Only Address)’. Original in PG archive. Re-photographed in 1998 by Sarah Cocke.

The Palm House and Winter garden. This large glass house (octagon 29′ across, rectangle 35′ x 15′) was presumably erected in 1871, since that is the date on a brick in the adjacent ‘medieval’ wall, which acts as a retaining wall for the level area where the Palm House stands.

It was built by Boulton and Paul, an important engineering firm in Norwich in the 19c and much of the 20c. From their catalogue we know that it was heated by 1000′ of hot water piping. The structure was demolished early in the 20c and the site became a rose garden (cf PGPT152).

PGPT002
Date:1897
Source: as in PGPT001

This view was taken looking north from the top of the Italian terrace. The Plantation house (PGPT067) can be seen near the horizon on the left, and the Palm House and Winter Garden (PGPT003) are visible at the far end of the garden. The way the ivy has been cut into triangles and decorates the ‘medieval’ wall (cf PGPT227) to the left of the Palm House is similar to the treatment on the balustrade walls in PGPT001.

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, for the 15th Duke of Norfolk. The architect was 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. The surrounding wall has yet to be built.

PGPT015
Date: 1890s
Source: negative donated by J.F.C.Mills

The photograph was taken from the lawn of the Plantation house, looking across the top of the Palm house to St John’s Catholic cathedral. The cathedral is only partly built, and this is how the photograph can be dated to the 1890s. N.b. the globe lights beside the steps, the open ventilators of the Palm house, and the immaculate carpet bedding.

PGPT029
Date: 1890s
Source: negative donated by J.F.C. Mills

This negative is one of a pair donated by Mr Mills. The other (PGPT015) sets the date for the pair. From this angle the glasshouse beside the fountain can be seen more clearly than in other photographs, and the complicated pattern of flower beds on the upper lawn is clear too.

PGPT318
Date: 1897
Source: enlargement by Sarah Cocke from PGPT002

This enlargement was made to show details of the Palm house made by Boulton and Paul (see pages from their catalogue PGPT075, 078). Points of interest are the glazed entrance to the boiler house on the right, copied in 2000 to make a shed (PGPT097), trestles and a ladder beside the double doors, the ventilators open at the top of the octagon, the trim edges of the paths, the carefully tended flower beds and the neat shaping of the ivy on the ‘medieval’ wall on the left.

This conservatory was described as recently erected at Carrow House in the 1898 catalogue of Boulton and Paul, who also supplied the Palm House in the Plantation garden. The owners of Carrow House were the Colman family (of mustard fame). The photograph of the interior with its plants and furniture (see PGPT066), which Boulton and Paul also published, probably gives the best impression we can now have of the original appearance of the Plantation Palm house.

PGPT177 and 178
Date: c1898
Source: Boulton and Paul catalogue and modern photograph by volunteer

PGPT067
Date: 1897
Source: Auction particulars, as in PGPT001

This shows the Plantation house which Henry Trevor completed in 1856 (date on chimney). He was granted a 75 year lease of the land (a former quarry) from 1855, at a ground rent of £66 p.a.

A condition of the lease was that he was to build a house, by the spring of 1857, spending not less than £2000 – a very considerable sum at a time when a terrace house might cost £100. The style is firmly classical, with columned portico, pilasters at the corners. and pediment over the central bay. The quality of the building work is high, with fine pointing between the ‘white’ bricks (now grey). The windows of the upper storey have 12 panes, while on the ground floor the sash windows are glazed with plate glass.

The photograph shows the garden laid out in the popular mid 19c style with beds and edges closely planted to form a ‘carpet’ of colour for the summer.

PGPT439
Date: 1995
Source: photograph by volunteer Sheila Adam

The Plantation house exterior looks very similar in modern times to its 1897 appearance (cf PGPT067). From this angle, it is possible to see how Henry Trevor chose to build on a slightly elevated site, planning that the drive dipped from the Earlham road, then rose again up to the entrance of the house. A visitor would thus feel that he was arriving at an imposing residence, not a mere tradesman’s house. As the 1897 auction particulars stated, it was ‘within a few minutes walk of the Market Place, possessing, at the same time, all the advantages of a suburban retreat’.

From this angle we can also see the roof of the servants’ quarters at the back of the house, and the curious window on the north, created when that room was turned into the operating theatre of the clinic in the 1930s (cf PGPT154).

PGPT151 and PGPT154
Date: 1930s
Source: advertising brochure for nursing home in 1930s

After the death of George Green in 1929 a group of doctors took over the lease of the Plantation and set up a clinic and nursing home. (Since the garden was opened to the public in 1980 many visitors have told us their memories of family members who were born or worked at the Plantation – see PGPT137-146).

Professional photographs were taken in the 1930s by A.E.Coe and Sons Ltd, Norwich, to illustrate the facilities available for patients. These 2 photographs show (top) one of the upstairs bedrooms, with views down on to the garden, and (bottom) the operating theatre, downstairs to the right of the front door. The window on the left of the picture has been altered to let in more light; this feature can be seen as you approach the north side of the house from Earlham Road (cf PGPT439).

PGPT051
Date: 1897
Source: Auction sale particulars, as PGPT008

This photograph shows ‘The Beeches’, which Henry Trevor built in the 1860s between his own dwelling house and the Earlham Rd. The conservatory, garden and thatched summerhouse (cf PGPT047/8) are visible to the left of the house. Henry Trevor let the property to tenants. In 1897 the rent was £75 p.a.

In the early 1980s the property was leased to a Mr Hill, who converted it and the neighbouring Plantation house into a hotel.

PGPT008
Date: 1897
Source: Spelman (auctioneers) included these photographs in their particulars of sale of the lease of the Plantation house and garden and other properties owned by Henry Trevor. The sale was held after Henry Trevor’s death in May 1897.

This photgraph shows part of the terrace of 7 houses which Henry Trevor built in the 1860s to form Chester Place. They were designed by the architect Edward Boardman. The low walls between the houses were built to the same design as balustrades in the Plantation (PGPT022) and the pedestals, like the one visible here at the end of the wall, are very similar to those around the fountain in the garden (cf PGPT356), using flints and Gunton fancy bricks.

PGPT009
Date: 1897
Source: as for PGPT008

This photgraph shows two houses in Chester Place (Chester House in the foreground. The Rosary on the left) which were owned by Henry Trevor and included in the 1897 sale.

PGPT010
Date: 1897
Source: as PGPT008/9.

The photograph shows The Elms, Heigham Grove. In 1897 and for many years before, Henry Trevor’s stepson, John Joseph Gray Page (PGPT168) lived in this house with his large family.

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 PGPT003) 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 can be seen on the walls.

The photograph was taken from an upper path on the east bank of the garden.

PGPT033
Date: suggested 1920s.
Source: 1980s postcard from unknown original

Interesting features here 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.

More about the fountain appears later in this section.

PGPT034
Date: 1st quarter 20c
Source: 1980s postcard from unknown original. (cf PGPT 032)

The gardener’s cottage in The Plantation is described in the 1897 auction particulars as comprising ‘Entrance,Two Sitting Rooms,Kitchen, Pantry, W.C. and Three Bedrooms’.

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, the equivalent of a year’s wages) in Henry Trevor’s will, and took part in his 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. See PGPT371 for its appearance in the 1990s.

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 on the left and the ‘Window’ (cf PGPT 061) on the right.

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.

PGPT096
Date: c.2000
Source: photograph by volunteer

The ‘window’ folly is a good example of Henry Trevor’s liking for the medieval style in the decoration of his garden. In PGPT061/2 this feature can be seen as it appeared in the 1930s. The restoration in the 1990s was not able to make use of the 1930s photograph and a central pillar was added to give support instead of the original buttresses on either side. For the ‘angel’ sculpture on the right see PGPT399.

PGPT428
Date: June 2011
Source: photo by volunteer Cynthia Gibling

This stone water spout is also seen in PGPT062.

It was returned to the Garden and reinstated in its original position.

PGPT061
Date: 1919/20
Source: photograph in PGPT archive

Another group 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 (cf PGPT096). It was found largely broken in 1980 and restored in the 1990s. There are examples in other Victorian gardens of ecclesiastical fragments, taken from churches during 19c ‘restorations’, being used as rose arches or decoration.

An angel sculpture on the right hand support (PGPT399) may well have been produced in a Victorian funeral mason’s workshop.

PGPT037
Date: 1989
Source: photograph taken by volunteer in PG archive

The Plantation house, built by Henry Trevor in 1856. In the early 1980s it became part of ‘The Beeches’ hotel.

In this photograph the balustrade along the top of the retaining ‘medieval’ wall has not yet been restored, and there is much work to be done on the upper lawn (cf PGPT400).

PGPT040, 041, 042
Date: 1989
Source: photograph taken by volunteer in PG archive

There was co-operation between the hotelier and the PGPT to restore the balustrade above the retaining wall in front of the hotel.

PGPT305
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by Sarah Cocke

The ‘medieval’ terrace wall was built in 1871, as we know from a plaque with that date set into the wall. The ecclesiastical style, with much use of ‘niches’ with designs within them, echoes many Norwich church walls, such as that of St Peter Mancroft in PGPT306. Decorative shields, like St Peter’s, can be seen in the Plantation on this wall and the Italian terrace wall (PGPT111).

PGPT125
Date: May 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

This ‘gargoyle’ head (perhaps another product of Gunton Bros (see PGPT104) was built into the ‘medieval’ wall at its northen end. This wall (cf PGPT305) was built as a retaining wall in 1871 (date on plaque in wall) when Henry Trevor erected his Palm house. Previously the ground had sloped from the house down to the fountain, but in 1871 he levelled a sufficient area to build his large Palm house (see PGPT001, 002).

PGPT479
Date 1886
Source: original 1886 photograph in PGPT archive, re-photographed by Sarah Cocke 1998

It is remarkably fortunate that this family photograph has survived since 1886. Members of Henry Trevor’s family are posed in front of a rustic summerhouse in the Plantation garden, probably returned from, or about to set out for, the service advertised on the poster in the background (cf PGPT007). From left to right we see Eliza Trevor (cf PGPT162), daughter of Henry and Mary Trevor, holding by the hand Hugh, her eldest son (cf PGPT266). John Page (cf PGPT168) stands behind, beside his son Herbert, his wife (seated, cf PGPT171) and son Sydney, who died as a soldier in Gaza in WW1. Are the blurred figures moving away to the left Henry and Mary themselves?

Remains of this summerhouse were found on the lawn beside Plantation house in 1980 (cf PGPT255). From these we know that the roof was thatched with heather, and the inside lined with rattan. The wood used in the structure was intended to look ‘rustic’, like the bridge (cf PGPT373). This appearance of a natural look, of ‘rus in urbe’, was very popular with the Victorians, as is shown by the huge sales of Shirley Hibberd’s book (cf PGPT329) in the years following its publication in 1856.

PGPT048
Date 1935
Source as PGPT 047

The rustic summer house shown here in the garden of ‘The Beeches’ (cf PGPT051) was of similar taste to the summer house in The Plantation (cf PGPT007). This garden has been built on since 1980 for an extension to the hotel and part of its car park.

The house in the background is Chester Lodge, in Chester Place.

PGPT255
Date: 1980
Source: photograph by volunteer

Here we see the remains of a thatched rustic summer house which were found on the lawn near the Plantation house in 1980. The ‘swan’ panels on either side of the door were preserved by the PGPT for several years (cf PGPT331), but they eventually deteriorated to the point of no return.

Examination of these panels and other details proved that this was the summer house in the background of the family photograph of 1886 (PGPT?).

In 2002 the PGPT obtained grants and appealed to members for the sum necessary to pay for a reproduction summer house, built by a specialist firm, to be constructed at the top of the Italian terrace (cf PGPT135).

For further discussion about the original position of the summerhouse and its restoration see Ex Fonte no.22, 2002 p.11 and no.23, 2003 p.9.

PGPT135
Date: June 2004
Source: photograph by volunteer

The photograph shows the recreated rustic summerhouse (cf PGPT114) at the top of the Italian terrace steps. At this date the heather roof is still in reasonable condition. Clearly visible are the ‘swans’ decorating the front panels, inspired by the panels surviving from Henry Trevor’s original summerhouse (PGPT331).

PGPT331
Date: c.2000
Source: photograph by volunteer

Here can be seen a panel from the original 1886 summerhouse which was found in 1980 on the lawn near the Beeches (see PGPT090). This panel and the one just glimpsed on the right were decorated with ‘found’ pieces of wood to make images of swans.

Another picture of the recreated summerhouse with its heather roof (see PGPT135) before it was replaced with a roof of Norfolk reed (see PGPT116).

PGPT114 and 219
Date : July 2007
Source: Photographs by volunteer

The recreated rustic summerhouse at the top of the Italian steps. It is possible to see the deterioration of the heather thatched roof which led to re-roofing in Norfolk reed in 2008 (see PGPT090).

The 1886 photograph of the summerhouse which the modern manufacturers used to make the reproduction can be seen in PGPT

The reconstruction was made in 2003, but unfortunately the heather roof, which copied the original material, deteriorated and had to be changed during 2007.

On the back wall inside was placed a copy of the poster visible in the 1886 photograph (see PGPT007) and on the side wall an information panel mostly about the family.

PGPT116
Date: April 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

A view of the restored rustic summerhouse at the top of the Italian terrace, after the roof had been renovated with Norfolk reed (see PGPT114).

Visible on the inside wall is an information board about the summerhouse.

PGPT063
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. In the album also is a photograph of George Green standing on the upper lawn with a group of more than 20 schoolboys ‘from Bethnal Green, London’, who were visiting the Plantation.

The balustrading and walls of the Italian terrace rise up behind the seated figures. The Gothic alcove (cf PGPT103) covered with ivy, can be seen at the left behind 2 seated figures, and there seem to be the remains of a large curved window (?) abutting the terrace wall in the centre.

PGPT319
Date: 1980
Source: photograph by volunteer

This photograph shows as clearly as the 1980 photographs of the fountain (e.g. PGPT302) what a task was taken on by the original volunteers in the garden. A comparison with PGPT320, of the same view, indicates how much work was done to remove the years of growth of ivy and reveal the structure underneath. It is certainly to the credit of the original builders that once the ivy was removed so much of their work was still standing, although some of the balustrades had to be reconstructed.

PGPT038
Date: 1985
Source: photograph taken by volunteer in PG archive

The Italian balustrade is shown here after some work has been done: Much of the ivy covering has been stripped away (cf PGPT319), and most of the balustrade has been restored. It can be seen that the lawn area is unkempt and full of weeds.

PGPT322
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

This photograph of one corner the wall of the Italian terrace shows a typical mixture of the materials Henry Trevor used in his garden, in contrast to those used to create the Italian gardens of many wealthy owners of country estates. At Shrubland Park (see PGPT321) the grand staircase and its balustrades and pedestals were all made of stone, but this would have been impossibly expensive for Henry Trevor.

Instead he again employed the assortment of materials seen elsewhere in the garden: there are flints, moulded chimney bricks from Gunton Bros (including a bunch of grapes design, PGPT113) moulded balustrades and – a very individual touch – drain pipes to stand in for classical columns on the pedestals.

PGPT317
Date: c1989
Source: photograph by volunteer

This photograph shows work in progress on the Italian terrace. The eastern section of the balustrade has been restored, the western has yet to be tackled. There are no urns on the upper pedestals and the summerhouse lies in the future.

PGPT320
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by Sarah Cocke

Comparison with PGPT319 reveals what lay beneath the thick covering of ivy. Although inevitably some repairs to the facade were needed, the most obvious reconstruction was of sections of the balustrade.

In the 1897 auction particulars this area of the garden is described as ‘The Italian Garden’, with mention of its plantings, but the ‘Italian’ character really derived from Henry Trevor’s ‘well kept terraces and balconies’; for he employed here, to cover the steep cliff of the original chalk quarry, the slopes, steps, pedestals and balustrades which Italians had developed to deal with their steep terrain.

The balustrade along the top, which shows white in the picture, was made of bricks in pattern clearly seen on the left in PGPT002 and 022.

PGPT241
Date: 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer Dubravka Yarwood

This oblique view of the Italian terrace and rustic summerhouse shows that it is quite a steep climb from the lawn up the slope, which was probably a chalk cliff at the south end of the quarry when Henry Trevor began work on his garden.

Planting on these slopes is definitely hazardous, so the aim is to plant perennials which do not need much maintenance.

PGPT022
Date:1920s
Source: Green family album

Rather poor copies of rather poor photographs from the family album of the Greens. George Green (see PGPT059) 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 (PGPT008).

PGPT005
Date: c.1927
Source: family album of the Page family (cf PGPT016); photograph donated by Bettine Page.

This photograph was taken by Brian Page, grandson of John Joseph Gray Page (see PGPT168), who was the eldest stepson of Henry Trevor (see 106).

This view was taken from the rustic bridge and can be compared with PGPT001. By this time the Palm House has been demolished and its site turned into a rose garden.

PGPT012
Date:1928
Source: Boulton & Paul catalogue, no.132 and 133

The rustic bridges shown in these photographs are very similar to the rustic bridge in a 1930s photograph of the rustic bridge in the Plantation Garden (PGPT373). As Henry Trevor obtained his Palm House from Boulton and Paul, it is very probable that he also obtained his rustic bridge from the same firm.

PGPT152
Date: 1930s
Source: as PGPT151/4

This photograph (label ‘View of Garden’) must have been taken from the rustic bridge, looking South. The Palm House has been demolished and apparently been replaced by a rose garden. In the foreground a framework can just be seen beneath climbing plants: was this the remains of the glazed structure (entrance to the underground chamber for the boiler) just visible on the right in PGPT002?

PGPT304
Date: 1998
Source: photograph by volunteer

In 1998 the Norwich Society was celebrating its 75th anniversary and invited suggestions for projects to commemorate the occasion. Fortunately for the PGPT, the restoration of a bridge had been one of the Society’s original projects, and so it was agreed that the Society would bear half the expense of restoring our bridge.

Allan Sewell, a local architect who had been involved in the Trust from its early days, designed the bridge after close study of the 1893 map, the site and the few existing photographs (cfPGPT373/4). He was pleased to find, once building was underway, that the builders uncovered the original bases of the bridge just where he had placed them.

PGPT312 (far left) shows the view from the bridge in 1998 – compare with the 1897 view PGPT001.

PGPT254
Date: c 2002
Source: photograph by volunteer

From the early days of restoration of the garden the PGPT volunteer guides have taken groups around the garden talking about its history and significance. The letter shown in PGPT414 illustrates the appreciation felt by many visitors.

On special occasions, such as the Queen’s Jubilee, or for children’s groups, the guides have adopted Victorian style costume.

The rustic bridge is a favourite spot for taking a photograph of the view to the south (cf PGPT403), although here the guide is pointing north, probably to the monkey puzzle tree planted just north of the bridge.

PGPT281
Date: April 2005
Source: photograph by volunteer

The rustic bridge, reconstructed in 1998 (cf PGPT374), acts both as a belvedere and a link between various paths around the garden (cf PGPT098). PGPT402 shows a view of the bridge from the upper lawn.

PGPT144
Date: 1930s
Source: as PGPT143

Presumably a mother with the baby she has borne in the Plantation clinic.

In the background are visible an urn shaped like a shell (still there) and the balustrade (now restored, see PGPT040/1/2).

Photographs dating to 1947 and 1956 (in the archive but not included here) show the same urn but with a fence replacing the fallen balustrade.

PGPT066
Date: 1909
Source: Boulton and Paul 1909 catalogue

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 conservatory 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 (PGPT189), and it appears in 20c. photographs taken in that area (PGPT014).

PGPT014
Date:1940s/50s
Source: unknown

This photograph was taken on the lawn to the south of the Plantation house. It shows a gardener standing beside a fountain, parts of which were discovered here in 1980 and removed into the protection of the brick shed in the Plantation garden (PGPT284). This ceramic fountain was made by Doulton, and is very similar to one that appears in a photograph of the conservatory at Carrow (see PGPT066).

St John’s Roman Catholic cathedral can be seen in the background.

PGPT046
Date: 1940s
Source: photograph given to PG archive by someone who had lived in the Plantation house during her training as a midwife.

The Doulton fountain on the lawn beside the house was regularly chosen as a background for souvenir photographs (cf PGPT141).

PGPT047
Date: 1936
Source: photograph given to PG archive by Mrs Trick (nee Drake), who is the child in the photograph.

The side elevation of ‘The Beeches’ with its 19c conservatory is in the background. Mr H.J.Drake was tenant of the house for most of the 1930s.

PGPT141
Date: 1947-50
Source: as PGPT138

Another of the photographs taken by midwives staying at the Plantation. The background chosen here is the Doulton fountain (PGPT284) situated on the lawn beside the house (cf PGPT014)

PGPT155
Date: 1930s
Source: as PGPT14

This same nurse appears in PGPT145/6. She is posing in front of the Doulton ceramic fountain on the lawn to the south of the Plantation house (see PGPT014

PGPT284
Date: September 2006
Source: photograph by volunteer

This fountain, probably made by Doulton, seems to have been introduced into the Plantation garden by George Green (PGPT087) in the 1920s. It is very similar to the one which appears in the photograph of the conservatory of Carrow house (PGPT066).
It appears on the lawn of the Plantation house in photographs from the 1940s and 1950s, when a gardener (PGPT014) and various midwives (e.g.PGPT141) chose it as a background for their photographs. It was still in that position when the Trust took over the garden in 1980, although the upper tier was missing (cf PGPT189). Now (2013) the pieces are kept in storage.

PGPT189
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by John Watson, volunteer

In 1980 the remains of this Doulton fountain were found on the lawn beside the Plantation house (cf PGPT014) and removed by John Watson for repair. This work has never been completed and to date (2012) what remains is still in store
(PGPT284).

There is some mystery about the history of this fountain. It was originally thought (Ex Fonte no.2 1981) that it had stood in the Palm House. However, in G.C.Green’s album of stories about his father, George Green (see PGPT058-063) there is a sketch, clearly recognisable as this fountain, labelled ‘Fountain added to the Plantation by Alderman Geo.Green’. What is more, in the photograph of the interior of the Carrow House conservatory (PGPT066) the fountain there looks identical to this one. So did George Green buy it from the Colman family, or purchase an identical model?

PGPT045
Date: 1960s
Source: photograph in PG archives

This aerial view shows St John’s Cathedral top right, and evidence of neglect in the garden: the upper and lower lawns are unkempt and the fountain basin is empty.

PGPT201 and PGPT202
Date: 1980
Source: photographs by volunteer, probably Allan Sewell

This image of the fountain basin crumbling and overgrown with young saplings can be contrasted with PGPT199 after the efforts of volunteers had restored it.

The rainwater collected in the bottom of the basin explains how generations of frogs had managed to breed there.

PGPT181
Date: 1980s
Source: photogaraph by volunteer Allan Sewell

In Ex Fonte no 1, 1980, there is a description of the state of the fountain and what needed to be done. This photograph illustrates the description: ‘At a first glance the fountain appeared, almost more than anything else in the garden, to be in imminent danger of collapse. Inspection by the builder member who is in charge of the work on the fountain, however provided a reassurance that, in fact, the basic and structural parts of the fountain are in a remarkably sound condition and the fears that the fountain is leaning to one side are groundless.’

Well done Henry Trevor! And well done the early volunteers who quickly set to work stabilising and restoring this structure which was immediately adopted as the icon for the PGPT.

PGPT302
Date: 1980
Source: Photograph by volunteer

One of the early pictures of the fountain which shows how much work lay ahead of the pioneer volunteers. For a description of their first reactions see PGPT181.

PGPT182
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

The sycamores, ivies etc have been removed, the brickwork in the basin looks trim, and the contrast with PGPT181 shows how much work has been done. As yet there is no water to help the annual gathering of the frogs which arrive from all over the garden in March to produce the next generation!

PGPT184
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

Work on restoring the fountain continued throughout the 1980s. As in PGPT182, the brickwork of the basin is exposed and it has not yet been lined.

PGPT190
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

In the 1980s there was continual work on restoring the fountain which had already become the iconic symbol of the PGPT (see PGPT181/2,184). There are reports in Ex Fonte throughout the 1980s of the progress of the work.

PGPT191
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

The brick construction of the fountain basin (see PGPT182,4) is being relined before filling with water.

PGPT192
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

John Watson, shown here in typical form at work on the fountain, became an active member of the PGPT from its early days. He was Chairman 1983-1993 and was made Honorary President in 2003. Bruce Adam (Chairman 2000- 2007) wrote about John in Ex Fonte no.23 2003 and Allan Sewell wrote an obituary in the following issue.
John was an engineer and loved to take an active role in the repair and construction work in the 1980s as well as in all dressing up occasions!

These photographs, taken during the restoration of the fountain, give details of its construction and workings which are not usually seen! See Ex Fonte no.12 1991 for John Watson’s description of this structure.

PGPT193,194,195,196,197,198
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer (probably John Watson)

PGPT136
Date: 10th July 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

The ‘Gothic’ fountain was built by Henry Trevor in 1857, a year after he finished his house (cf PGPT366). It must have provided immediately a view point of interest in the quarry where he was planning his garden. It is a unique feature: a tribute to the popularity of the Gothic style in the mid 19c – a reminder that the Houses of Parliament were under construction during 1857. The materials used include flints, probably from the site itself, which form the buttresses that give the impression of a grotto. There are also a large number of Gunton Bros white bricks, moulded into classical and Gothic patterns, which have weathered to look like stone. The ‘windows’ with the cusps in their tops, match drawings in the Gunton catalogue (PGPT300).

Thus this structure combines the attractions of a ruin, a fountain, a grotto, a fish pond and a lily pond.

PGPT252
Date: 1980
Source: photograph by volunteer Allan Sewell

This photograph shows the ruinous state of the retaining wall in the south east corner of the level area of the garden in 1980 when the Trust began its work. The most prominent of the mixture of materials are the Gunton Bros spiral chimney bricks, bottom right, and the three sections of balustrading middle left.

PGPT253 shows the restoration in progress.

PGPT253
Date: 2003
Source: photograph by volunteer

This shows the early stages of the restoration of the retaining wall which appears in PGPT252. Michael Herring, the builder who undertook the restoration appears at the left. As in other restoration work, the materials used were found in the garden, and the style was copied from the other, 19c, walls. See PGPT368 for Michael’s own description of his method of work. The restored wall is shown in PGPT262.

PGPT368
Date: 2003

This retaining wall in the south-east corner of the lower lawn had largely collapsed by 1980, when the garden was ‘discovered’ (cf PGPT252). Restoration was begun here in 2003, by Michael Herring (PGPT253), a builder who had done a lot of work on traditional buildings.The lower parts of this wall were still in situ, so the plan was clear, and for materials he had plenty of the original bricks and flints which he bound with an old-fashioned mortar, using a natural lime mix to give an authentic look. As for the design, as he said himself, ‘the best guide is the other walls, with their mixture of flints and plain and fancy bricks, so I’ve imitated the 19th century craftsmen.’ He ‘worked out a pattern, and then had a consultation with Bruce and Sheila Adam……we kept trying out different ideas until we got there.’ (Ex Fonte no 23 2003)

PGPT244
Date: August 2008
Source: photograph by Marjorie Wilson

The planting in the foreground includes astilbes and tree ferns. In the background can be seen the wall restored in the south east corner of the lawn and the restored Gothic alcove beyond.

PGPT210
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph in PGPT archive

The Plantation garden was built in a quarry, where chalk extraction had succeeded or accompanied mining for flints. These are examples of the fresh flints which can emerge when the soil is penetrated to any depth.

Flints were used extensively in building the garden, both as uncut pebbles (see PGPT148) and cut or knapped. Some particularly large flints were used in the arched buttresses of the fountain (see PGPT089). Many of the medieval churches in Norwich were built from flints and many of those flints may have been obtained by tunnelling in the area around the Earlham Rd. These tunnels have been explored from the 19c (cf PGPT346).

PGPT324
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

This is one of the pair of pedestals that stand at the top of the steps of the Italian terrace. It is notable in several ways. Each of the other pedestals that you pass as you ascend the slope has a different design: here the opposing faces of the two pedestals have the same design, of a shield set within a cusped window frame, with the initials HMB above a design of a tasselled rope.

What significance do these initials have for Henry Trevor? H could be for Henry; M for his wife Mary; B, slightly oddly, for her middle name, Beakley. This is probably the interpretation that Henry Trevor wanted his visitors to understand, an interpretation which would have made him smile. For the plaque that we see here was not custom made for Henry Trevor. It must have been a ‘spare’ from another job of Gunton Bros (cf PGPT325/6) PGPT 289, 290 have other views of these plaques.

PGPT325
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

The plaque in this photograph looks identical to the one in the Plantation garden as in PGPT324 – and indeed it is from the same mould. But this plaque is to be found at Oxburgh Hall, where Sir Henry Bedingfeld,6th Baronet, and his wife Margaret, embarked in 1830 upon the restoration of the medieval hall. Sir Henry employed as architect John Buckler, an enthusiastic medievalist, and together they carried out an extensive programme of restoring the building and gardens. Designs by Pugin and Crace were used, as well as heraldry and initials to give a sense of period. This decorative plaque (HMB for Henry and Margaret Bedingfeld) is typical of their fashionable ‘medieval’ style.

PGPT326
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer

The Victorian walled garden at Oxburgh has castellated towers and gateways in the medieval style, as shown here. An HMB plaque (see PGPT324/5) was built in over the doorway.

Since the moulded bricks and the chimney stacks of the Hall can be identified as Gunton products we can feel sure that this was their source for the plaque. It was natural that Buckley, the architect (see PGPT325) should employ Gunton Bros because he had already worked on the restoration of Costessey Hall in the 1820s, using Gunton bricks then (see PGPT311,315). Henry Trevor may well have bought a ‘spare’ from Guntons’ yard after Sir Henry’s death in 1862.

PGPT289 and PGPT290
Date: 1980s
Source: photographs by volunteers

Seeing these photographs side by side makes it easy to compare the plaque from the Plantation garden (PGPT289) with that from Oxburgh Hall (PGPT290).

The story of these plaques is told in PGPT324-6.

PGPT366
Date: 1856
Source: 1990s photograph by volunteer

See PGPT067 for the history of Henry Trevor building the Plantation house. He put the date plaque (probably made by Gunton Bros) on a chimney stack, the left hand one in PGPT067.

The chimney pot on the left is the most likely to be original, as its style matches others of around this date e.g. in Chester Place.

PGPT039
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph taken by volunteer in PG archive

It can be seen that the fountain wall has been repaired, as has the wall alongside. The fountain wall is built with flints, the side wall with a mixture of flints,plain bricks, and ‘fancy’ Gunton bricks in red and white patterns. The fountain basin has not yet been filled with water.

PGPT149
Date: 1940
Source: photograph from Harvey family

This photograph, showing a young couple resting after a game of tennis, was donated with quite a story.

Edward Harvey’s sister was on the midwifery staff at Plantation house and so when he came home on leave from the army in 1940 he was allowed to play on the court on the lower lawn with his wife, Connie. Sadly, he was killed in Italy in 1944.

Mrs Harvey remembered having ante-natal care herself at the Plantation, though babies were born at Earlham House. She remembered that her sister-in-law lived with other nursing staff in ‘the bungalow’, which was built on the area now known as the ‘triangle’, to the east of the entrance yard.

PGPT140
Date: 1956
Source: as PGPT137

This time the group of midwives has chosen the wall at the northern end of the lower lawn as a background for their photograph (cf PGPT060). The pedestal on the left clearly lacks an urn which should stand on top. The plaque is one of several of the same design in various parts of the garden: it is tempting to think that once again Henry Trevor bought a bargain lot from Gunton Bros. Certainly the mouldings which frame the plaque and the cross design on the wall are Gunton style (see PGPT043/4).

PGPT043, 044
Date: 1980s
Source: photograph by volunteer in PG archive

A theory was taken up by some of the volunteers which maintained that much terracotta in the 19c had been limewashed to imitate stone. This theory was acted on in the area at the bottom of the steps down to the lawn from the Palm House terrace. Here we can see some of the several plaques which have a design of a barrel and fruit being limewashed by volunteers.

Fortunately the popularity of this idea was short lived.

PGPT323
Date:1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

A visitor making the ascent to the top of the terrace would find continual interest in the designs on the walls. They are amazingly varied and use an eclectic mixture of materials. Thus here a flower pattern has been created from Gunton bricks intended to decorate chimneys (see PGPT011), surrounded by a white brick classical leaf and dart moulding, with a couple of path tiles added above to enliven the flint background. Never a dull moment!

PGPT390
Date:1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

This is a detail of the ‘medieval’ wall (cf PGPT305). The date plaque here is very valuable for the information it gives about when the wall was built, i.e. in 1871 as part of the construction preparatory to the erection of the Palm House (cf PGPT003). No explanation has yet been found for the design of the main plaque, which apparently shows a barrel, leaves, fruit and flowers, as well as the letters ‘H’ and ‘A’ in a decorative ‘Gothic’ style. Similar plaques are to be found on the pedestals at the bottom of the steps leading down from the upper lawn (cfPGPT043/4). Was this another ‘bargain lot’ which Henry Trevor acquired from Gunton Bros? And is it another example of Henry Trevor’s humour, because the bar at the top of the ‘A’ ressembles a ‘T’? The circular design at the top is formed from Gunton chimney bricks.

PGPT354 and PGPT355
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

Gunton Bros catalogue (see PGPT311) declares that the moulded bricks which are their speciality can be made in red and white, and here are examples from the walls of the Plantation garden. Both bricks have of course weathered: the red remains unmistakably brick, whereas after a time the white is often mistaken for stone.

These are two of the six pedestals which punctuate the wall surrounding the fountain. They must date to 1857, when it was built (cf PGPT186). It is interesting to note that each of them is different, though each uses a window frame which matches a pattern in Gunton Bros 1903 catalogue (PGPT300). The central motif for each can also be matched – to chimneys in the 1907 catalogue, no. 17 (on left), which cost £2 17s 6d for a whole chimney, and no.16 (on right), which cost £3. The ‘background’ has been filled in with pebble flints.

The overall design of these pedestals is very similar to the pedestals in front of the houses in Chester Place (cf PGPT008), which Henry Trevor built in 1867, employing Edward Boardman (cf PGPT375) as architect. We know that Henry Trevor employed him also for the Palm House in 1871: did Boardman therefore create the design for the fountain pedestals at this early stage of his career, or did Henry Trevor ask him to copy for Chester Place a design invented by somebody else?

PGPT356 and PGPT357
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

Set in the Italian terrace wall are 3 terracotta plaques with shields of arms, 2 small and identical, with a larger one below. Research in the early 1980s (see Ex Fonte no.4 p9) into the heraldry showed that the upper 2 plaques have arms which can be identified as belonging to particular families – Amherst, Daniel, Tyssen and Mitford. This plaque, therefore, may have been commissioned by William Amhurst Tyssen-Amhurst (or Amherst), who married Margaret Mitford in 1856, and became M.P for Norfolk in the 1880s.

He lived at Foulden Hall, Didlington, which he enlarged in 1854 and 1856. It is possible that Gunton Bros made this plaque for those building works as they made other heraldic plaques for the Bedingfeld family at nearby Oxburgh Hall in the 1840s. Plaques from the latter are also found in the garden (see PGPT289). Nothing is known of the lower design.

PGPT111 and PGPT358
Date: July 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

PGPT306
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

This detail of the west wall of St Peter Mancroft church illustrates the influence of the medieval churches of Norwich on Henry Trevor’s designs for his garden, where the fashionable taste for the medieval was much in evidence.

PGPT307, 308 and 316
Date: 1990s
Source: photographs by Sarah Cocke

These details of the ‘medieval’ wall reveal clearly Henry Trevor’s taste for designs which echo medieval ecclesiastical architecture. The shield in PGPT307 is similar to one of those in PGPT111, the emblem of the cross speaks for itself and reflects Henry Trevor’s devout belief that gardening was a godly activity, the ‘man’ is reminiscent of medieval carvings of comic people. Gunton Bros bricks have been used to create these images (see PGPT113).

PGPT309, 310, 313 and 314
Date: 1990s
Source: photographs by Sarah Cocke

These are all details of the ‘medieval’ wall which Henry Trevor built in 1871 as a retaining wall when he levelled the slope in front of the house so that he could site his large Palm house there. He made this wall highly decorative by extensive use of Gunton Bros fancy bricks e.g. the rose, thistle and shamrock chimney bricks (see PGPT311,315). There is no evidence about the source of the ‘gargoyle’ – it also may be from a Gunton mould.

PGPT148
Date: 1990-2000
Source: as PGPT147

This postcard shows one general view of the garden and 3 details – the angel on the ‘window’ (see PGPT096), details of the fountain and the dog’s head on the ‘medieval’ wall. The background here has been constructed with pebble flints – elsewhere variety is provided by using knapped flints.

PGPT369
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

The left hand pillar from the propagating house (see History and Guide 2009 p 33). The propagating house can just be seen beyond the fountain in PGPT001, though already in 1897 the pillars were covered with ivy.

The pillars were decorated with various Gunton Bros fancy bricks(PGPT311): rose, shamrock, thistle, grapes and small window frames were used.

PGPT311 and 315
Date: 1907 and 1893
Source: catalogue of Gunton Bros and photograph by Sarah Cocke

Gunton Bros of Costessey (see Guide book 2009 p11) prospered from the early 19c when the firm was employed to repair the medieval Costessey Hall. They found that the moulded bricks and windows etc that they made in the ‘medieval’ style were popular throughout the country, so they produced catalogues from which it has been possible to identify many of the bricks, both red and white, found in the garden. PGPT311 shows p11 of the 1907 catalogue, illustrating a set of ‘patriotic’ chimneys, with designs of an English rose (reflecting chimneys at Hampton Court), between the Scottish thistle and the Irish shamrock. PGPT310, 313/4 show examples set into the walls of the garden.

PGPT315 is a photograph of a set of these chimneys, together with other Gunton chimneys, on a house in Chapelfield North. The house is dated 1891.

PGPT011
Date: early 20c.
Source: Gunton Bros pamphlet with illustrations of their work

This photograph is labelled “Old work recently renewed by Gunton Bros for Lord Stafford”. Examples of the fleur de lys bricks shown on the shaft of the chimney, and the bosses on the base, are found in the Plantation Garden.

Lord Stafford owned Old Costessey Hall, where Gunton Bros started their brick manufacture.

PGPT300
Date: 1903
Source: catalogue of ‘Ornamental Brick Mouldings’ made by Gunton Bros of Costessey.

This page of the catalogue shows some of the windows made by Guntons which Henry Trevor used on the ‘Gothic’ fountain (PGPT299) and lavishly around the garden e.g. on pedestals (cf PGPT356/7), the Window folly (PGPT096) and the Gothic alcove (PGPT214).

PGPT049
Date 1893
Source Catalogue of Boulton & Paul (ref.NN105)

In the description of the Palm house in the 1897 auction particulars there is mention of a saddle boiler which heated the 1000′ of hot water piping in the Palm house. It is known that B & P supplied the Palm house in 1871, so it seems probable that they also supplied a saddle boiler of a type similar to this one from a later catalogue.

PGPT072
Date 19c
Source Boulton & Paul catalogues, 1898 and others

The interest of this drawing of one pattern of cast iron cresting which Boulton & Paul could supply with its conservatories is that this design can be seen clearly along the edge of the Palm House in PGPT001.

PGPT329
Date: 1856
Source: illustrations from ‘Rustic adornments for Homes of Taste’

Shirley Hibberd’s book, first published in the year in which Henry Trevor built the Plantation, was an enormous success, reprinted several times. Henry Trevor’s garden reveals its influence very strongly: here can be seen the tall urn on a pedestal (cf PGPT002) in front of a rustic summerhouse (cf PGPT415); the rustic style of Hibberd’s seat reminds us of Henry Trevor’s rustic bridge (cf PGPT373); the flint buttresses of Henry Trevor’s fountain are also very similar to an illustration for the ‘Marine Aquarium’. Henry Trevor, as a man who sold fashion, would have wanted to show his garden also as an example of fashionable good taste.

PGPT065
Date: 1928
Source: Boulton & Paul catalogue (Rustic Work and log Cabins), NRO

We do not know whether the rustic summerhouse in the Plantation (see PGPT415) was made by Boulton & Paul, but this illustration from a later catalogue indicates that they had produced similar elaborate cabins, and as Henry Trevor purchased his Palm House from that firm it is quite possible that he also bought his summerhouse from them.

PGPT058
Date: 1926
Source: Green family album

G.Colman Green, son of George Green (see PGPT059), produced an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and his own sketches to illustrate the life of his father. This sketch, signed and dated. is inscribed ‘entrance to the Plantation, Earlham Road, Norwich’, and a sentence added at the bottom says ‘My father entertained many well-known people at this house including Lord Oxford (Mr Asquith) also many Ministers of Religion’

PGPT370
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

Rockworks became very popular in Victorian gardens, with manuals giving instructions about how to build them using limestone and clinker waste from furnaces or gasworks. A large piece of clinker can be seen at the top of the ‘steps’ here, down which water could trickle to be absorbed in the flower bed below (cf PGPT334).

In recent years ferns have been planted in the twenty or so planting holes built into the face of this long retaining wall (cf PGPT214).

PGPT371
Date: early 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

This photograph shows the Plantation house still looking much as it did in 1897 (cf PGPT067) but the foreground is very different. The flint/brick shed, built in the 1980s, stands where once the gardener’s cottage (cf PGPT034) and a fruit store stood. The relative positions of master’s house and servant’s cottage reflect the ‘upstairs, downstairs’ relationship between Henry Trevor and his gardener, George Woodhouse. In the 1897 auction particulars the cottage is described as ‘well screened from the house’ and indeed their different levels made that easy to achieve.

During the 1990s a wooden shed was erected next to the brick one and was fitted with units donated by Lorraine Matthews. It served as a base for catering for teas etc and for storage. A new enlarged shed is planned for summer 2013.

PGPT186
Date: 1992
Source: photograph by volunteer

The plaque showing the date of construction of the fountain had disappeared by 1980 when restoration began. There were, however, several photographs which showed the original (PGPT137 etc) and so it was possible to have a reproduction made with the date 1857 copied in the original style, with the inscription added ‘Stone 1992 replaced fountain restored’. The original plaque was probably terracotta and made by Guntons, like the 1856 chimney brick (PGPT366).

This reproduction was paid for by a generous donation by Bridget Elliott, given in memory of her aunts Ida and Sybil Bowers. They were the daughters of Richard Bowers (PGPT474).

PGPT188
Date: 1940s/50s?
Source: donated by visitor

Date and subject not known. The interest lies in a further illustration of the original 1857 date plaque (see PGPT186 etc).

PGPT334
Date: 1990s
Source: photograph by volunteer

At the top of the rockworks are two large lumps of clinker, each at the head of ‘steps’ down which a trickle of water could flow.

Clinker from the gaswoks was used by Henry Trevor as a cheap substitute for the volcanic rock which was advised as desirable for Victorian rockworks.

Marj Wilson designed a planting for the elevation which included ferns and cordyline. In the background can be seen one of the copper beeches which Henry Trevor planted.

PGPT258
Date: 1999
Source: photograph by volunteer

The caption explains that a trench was dug for the pipes and cables needed and required to supply the south end of the garden with water and electricity, both often for events such as parties and weddings held in marquees on the lawn. Although this was for a time a profitable source of income, it did result in some damage to the flower beds and grass, and rarely happens now.

PGPT256
Date: 2000
Source: photograph by volunteer

The garden is very photogenic in snow! These steps were built by volunteers to lead from the fountain up to the center path along the east bank.

PGPT333
Date: early 2000s
Source: photograph by volunteer

A view of the Italian terrace, showing the recreated summerhouse in position at the top of the steps (see PGPT319/20).

PGPT260
Date: July 2004
Source: photograph by volunteer

Many of the original steps at the top of the flight up to the Italian terrace had become worn and a possible hazard for the public, so in 2004 new ‘Mooncrete’ steps were used to replace the damaged ones, though care was taken to retain or reuse the originals where possible.

In the background can be seen the restored summerhouse, and the pedestal decorated with pebble flints and Gunton Bros ‘fancy’ bricks (cf PGPT354/5).

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 this photograph was enlarged and examined in the hope that it would yield evidence about the structure, but it only showed that it was covered with ivy.

George Green liked to use the garden for events during his occupancy, but there is no evidence that he was interested in gardening!

PGPT028
Date:1980s
Source:Sketch by PGPT volunteer in PGPT archive

This sketch was an attempt to reconstruct the ‘Gothic Alcove’ from the (very obscure) background on the left of PGPT027.

PGPT214
Date: March 2006
Source: photograph by volunteer

Rock works were a very popular feature of Victorian gardens. Volcanic rock like tufa was considered the most desirable material, but, if this could not be obtained, clinker, a waste product from gasworks was an acceptable substitiute. Henry Trevor probably obtained his clinker from the works on Kett’s Hill, now demolished. The same material was used extensively in the construction of other gardens in that area.

Cordylines can be seen in PGPT002, planted lower on the rockworks.

PGPT081
Date: April 2006
Source: photograph by volunteer

This view of the ‘Gothic’ alcove shows its state before restoration work was undertaken ( cf PGPT091). Planting schemes for the rockworks have also been carried out by Marj Wilson and Lesley Cunneen (cf PGPT276).

PGPT109 and PGPT105
Date: April 2006
Source: photograph by volunteer
One of the photographs of the ruins of the ‘Gothic’ alcove taken shortly before restoration (see PGPT105).

One of the photographs of the ruins of the ‘Gothic’ alcove taken shortly before restoration (see PGPT105).

The path behind runs from the southern end of the main lawn to the eastern end of the Rustic bridge. A pioneer volunteer remembers his pleasure at ‘discovering’ this path in the early days of restoration. It had been ‘lost’ amid the overgrown shrubs.

PGPT211
Date: 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

The work of restoring the ‘Gothic’ alcove using materials found in the garden, was undertaken by the building firm ……… See also PGPT103,105,130, and Guide book 2009 p34. All the builders who have worked on restoration in the garden have become enthusiastic about the unusual designs and materials they have been arranging, and intersested in the thinking of the original builders.

PGPT103 and PGPT091
Date: 2007
Source: Photograph by volunteer

Ruins in this spot (cf PGPT081) suggested the ‘Gothic’ alcove which the Trust decided to reconstruct in 2007, using original material found in the garden. It is an example of the ‘medievalising’ taste of Henry Trevor, shown also in the walls. For practical reasons it was built lower than the ivy covered remains that appear in the background of PGPT063.

PGPT115
Date: July 2007
Source: Photograph by volunteer

There was an unfortunate incident during a hot spell in 2007 when a young bird was so eager to drink that it fell into the fountain and was drowned. John Gibling, a volunteer, made this leaf shaped lead bird bath for the top of the rockworks in the hope of preventing other such accidents.

Bird nesting boxes have been provided in the garden too, and many birds live there. The dawn chorus has been much enjoyed by the brave souls who listen to it at 4 a.m on a summer morning!

PGPT113
Date:July 2007 (?)
Source: Photograph by volunteer

These ‘bunch of grapes’ bricks are built into the walls shown in PGPT112. They were made, like so many of the ‘fancy’ bricks in the garden, in the the workshops of Gunton Bros of Costessey. This design can also be seen on houses in the Street at Costessey.

The Gunton family brickmaking business grew rapidly from its beginnings early in the 19c, when the work of making bricks for the medieval Costessey Hall gave them the opportunity to make the medieval styles which became so popular in the mid 19c.

PGPT128
Date: 2007
Source: Richard Horne

This is the design for the shelter drawn by Richard Horne, the craftsman who built it (PGPT094). The completed shelter is shown in PGPT120.

PGPT057
Date: 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

In 2007 it was decided that it would be very useful to have a shelter in the yard at the entrance to the garden, to provide some protection for volunteers – both those who gathered on Tuesdays to work in the garden and those who collected entrance fees for various events.

The design was based on a drawing (no.653) in the 1898 catalogue of Boulton and Paul. The drawing was of a shelter in front of a stable (PGPT095). The maker was Richard Horne (cf PGPT094). Oak was the timber used. The photograph show the components before assembly on site.

PGPT117 and PGPT118
Date : September 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer Cynthia Gibling

The shelter in the yard under construction. The completed shelter can be seen in PGPT120.

PGPT094 and PGPT222
Date 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer Cynthia Gibling

Richard Horne was the craftsman who built the oak shelter, a practical addition for volunteers who work in the garden or welcome visitors (cf PGPT057).

Richard carved his name on the shelter he constructed in the Entrance yard of the garden.

PGPT120 and PGPT121
Date: October 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

The oak shelter finished!(cf PGPT117/8). Also visible is the Victorian post box used as an ‘honesty box’ for entrance fees when no volunteers are present (cf PGPT084). The rustic bridge, restored in 1998, is also visible to the right (cf PGPT402).

PGPT124
Date: September 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

Volunteers here make use of the newly finished shelter to take their mid-morning break. The ‘Tuesday Group’ was so named because they meet regularly on Tuesday mornings to do gardening, repairs and construction work. Their efforts over the years have made a great contribution to the garden.

PGPT126
Date: August 2007
Source: photograph by volunteer

On the O.S. map of 1883, flights of steps were marked clearly on the slopes in many parts of the garden, though by 1980 many had almost disappeared. This photograph shows work on the reconstruction of steps leading from the wide space at the top of the Italian terrace to the path running round the upper boundary of the garden. The completed work can be seen in PGPT247.

PGPT216
Date: July 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

This picture shows a group of volunteers who work on Tuesday mornings on all the gardening jobs needed to keep the Plantation looking attractive for visitors. Left – right they are Cynthia (who set up and runs the web site), Marj (Head Gardener), Janet, Dubravka and Jill.The picture was taken on the triangle above the entrance yard, where much hard work is done in propagating plants both for the garden and to sell.

N.b in the background a polytunnel which was later replaced with a permanent greenhouse in 2009.

PGPT083
Date: May 2006
Source: photograph by volunteer

A typical sight of regular volunteers (Dubravka, Jill, Janet) at work on a Tuesday morning.

Of interest in the background is the tree fern, donated by a visitor to the garden. It was decided to accept the gift, although there is no evidence that tree ferns were planted in the garden in the 19c, because they were a very popular plant in Victorian gardens – Heligan has many examples. Unfortunately the very cold winter 2010/11 damaged this specimen badly, but 2012 seemed to start its recovery.

The ‘blind arcading’ built into the terrace wall behind the volunteer workers is a good illustration of the ecclesiastical appearance of many structures in the garden. Below the arcading is a niche which resembles nothing so much as a ‘holy water stoup’ – an unlikely choice for an ardent Baptist!

PGPT227
Date: October 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

There is a date plaque set into this wall with the date 1871, so we know that Henry Trevor built it 15 years after he completed his house. It was part of his scheme for adding a Palm house to his garden (cf PGPT125). The house is plain and classical in style, the fountain, built in 1857, is decidedly Gothic, and Henry Trevor’s taste for the medieval style reappears strongly again in this wall. We know that he walked to his business daily, and on the way would have passed several medieval churches and the city walls, so he had plenty of opportunity to collect ideas for the very idiosyncratic combination of designs that appear along its length – a gargoyle, a cross, a dog’s head, a ‘man’, a coat of arms. Various Gunton bricks – thistle, rose, fleur-de-lys – add to the confusion or interest depending on your taste! For some details see PGPT307f.

PGPT133
Date: October 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

In 1842 Henry Trevor opened a furnishing business in Norwich (cf PGPT079). The business flourished, first under Trevor’s own name, later as Trevor and Page when he took his eldest stepson into partnership (cf PGPT106): eventually the name was shortened to Trevor Page. The business was finally closed in 1983, by which time it had been under the control of Mr A.G. Hodges for some years. His son Lt. Col. Hodges preserved the sign which had hung outside the shop, relocated to Queen St, together with its iron support. The sign had been repainted by the firm in the 20c: the support may date back to the 19c.

Lt.Col. Hodges donated the sign to the PGPT, and it was decided to restore and erect it in the entrance yard, together with an information board about the history of Trevor Page.

PGPT089
Date: 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

The large flints which appear in the buttresses of the fountain remind us that flints were mined on the site of the garden in medieval times. A reminder of the extensive system of tunnels (see PGPT346), which still survives in the area, came in 1984 when a bus, travelling up the Earlham Road towards the city, suddenly slipped into a hole created by the collapse of the roof of one such tunnel just opposite the entrance to the garden (PGPT347). Fortunately nobody was hurt, but considerable work was done to prevent a repetition of the accident.

The flints were embedded in chalk, which by the 19c was burnt in 2 lime kilns in the garden to make mortar for building work.

PGPT134
Date: October 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

In 1994 an accidental slip of the foot led to the discovery of this brick pediment in the bank to the East of the summerhouse at the top of the Italian terrace (see Ex Fonte 14 for a drawing and full report).

It has the date 1880 carved into the brick, almost hidden among the carvings of fruit and foliage, and the letter ‘J’ (?) may be carved in the centre. This is one of the few dated items that appear in the garden, and shows that Henry Trevor was continually changing and adding to his garden.

PGPT090
Date: 2008
Source: photograph by volunteer

This photograph was taken from a high viewpoint at the south end of the garden,at the top of the Italian terrace, looking across the thatched roof of the summerhouse past the balustrade on to the main lawn.

When the summerhouse was reconstructed in 2003 (cf PGPT135) it was roofed with heather like the original. Unfortunately this did not prove successful under the canopy of the trees, and in 2008 the structure was re-roofed with Norfolk reed. The work is shown in progress here.

PGPT092 and 093
Date: 2009
Source: photographs by Douglas Stewart, volunteer

The retaining wall in the south west corner of the main lawn was already in a state of collapse in 1980. PGPT110 shows its state in July 2007, before restoration began. The Trust decided to rebuild it in 2009,with an inner skin of breeze blocks to give stability as this photograph shows. A facing of original material found in the garden was added, using many of the ‘fancy’ bricks which Henry Trevor had obtained from Gunton Bros for his walls. For the finished restoration see PGPT232.

PGPT232 and PGPT233
Date: February 2009
Source: photograph by volunteer

These 2 photographs show a further stage of the work being carried out in PGPT092/3. The collapsed retaining wall in the south west corner of the main lawn (cf PGPT129) was restored by building an inner skin of breeze blocks, then adding a facing built in ‘Trevoresque’ style using the many fancy bricks which had been gathered from around the garden and stored in the shed since 1980.

As described in PGPT211, all the builders who have worked on restorations have become enthusiastic about examining original walls and adapting ideas from them.T

PGPT084
Date: July 2009
Source: photograph by volunteer

In the 1990s a decision was taken to set up an ‘honesty box’ in the hope that visitors to the garden would pay an entrance fee even when there was no volunteer to take their money. To the surprise of many, this soon became an important source of income. The first box was modern and ordinary, but Bruce Adam, then chairman, made enquiries of the Post Office, who kindly donated a Victorian box. A pillar was built to house it, using materials found in the garden.

Volunteers have emptied it every day after the occasion when a thief broke the box to reach the money.

The PGPT was very grateful to receive a legacy from a well-wisher, Michael Andrews, who left the PGPT over £50,000 when he died in 2007. It was decided to spend this on an Alitex, Victorian-style, double-glazed, aluminium-framed green house to replace the polytunnel which had done service since 2003. The green house has helped the gardeners considerably in their work of propagating and tending plants both for the garden and for sale.

This picture shows it in the course of construction. PGPT245 shows the finished structure. While this greenhouse is not an exact replica of the original (and we have no evidence of its appearance), it is typical of the style of the time.

PGPT235 and PGPT245
Date: March 2009
Source: photograph by volunteer

PGPT288
Date: 20th September 2009
Source: photograph by volunteer

BACK TO ARCHIVE

See PGPT235 for the story of how the Trust was able to build a new greenhouse in 2009. The structure is not an exact replica of the original (we have no evidence of its appearance) but it has been built in a ‘Victorian’ style on the site of an original structure. PGPT235 shows the interior in the course of construction, and PGPT245 the exterior.

This photograph was taken when the greenhouse was officially opened by chairman Nick Belfield-Smith.