Carclew House

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Carclew House was a large Palladian county house near Mylor in Cornwall. Rebuilt in the 18th century and again in the early 19th century it was destroyed by fire in 1934. ^[1]

The original house and estate were purchase by a wealthy merchant William Lemon (1696–1760) circa 1739. Lemon's town house in Truro had been designed by the architect Thomas Edwards, and it was again to Edwards that Lemon turned to substantially increase and modernise his new country house Carclew. ^[2]

Work began in 1739, the enhancement to the mansion included flanking the main block with colonnades terminated by small pavilions in the fashionable Palladian manner, the design was similar in appearance to drawings of Palladio's planned Villa Ragona. ^[3]

At the beginning of the 19th century William Lemon's grandson Sir William Lemon (1748–1824) had the house expanded further. He employed the architect William Wood (1746–1818) to create new wings in the place of the pavilions designed by Edwards. Work began in 1799 with the east wing being built in 1800 and the west wing in 1802. The wings were linked to the corps de logis by raised colonnaded connecting wings on the site of Edwards' original colonnades. ^[4]

In 1934 Carclew destroyed by fire and today just a few ruins are visible of what was once one of Cornwall's great houses, ^[5] The terraced gardens complete with their water fountains and cascades remain and are open to the public. ^[6]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Worsley, p 186
2. ^ Cornish History
3. ^ Cornish History. It should be noted that this villa which the reference refers to as "Villa Le Ghizzole" was never built
4. ^ Cornish History
5. ^ Image of destroyed Carclew
6. ^ Carclew Gardens

[edit] References

• Worsley, Giles (2002). England's lost Houses. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 1 85410 820 4. 

• Cornish History retrieved 24 March 2007

• Carclew Gardens retrieved 24 March 2007

• Thomas Edwards retrieved 24 March 2007

• Image of destroyed Carclew retrieved 24 March 2007