The Rookery

The Rookery is a former Rectory. Built in 1707 by Daniel Baudris - a French Huguenot priest, it is a Georgian building which incorporates a much older cob building. Roger Farnworth traced historical records indicating the rectory was derelict in 1215. This suggests a rectory could have stood here for around a thousand years. In 1328 John de Tremur said he could not live in it because it was in a 'ruinous state'. His nephew, the heretic Ralph de Tremur, resigned the living, robbed the new rector, and burnt the rectory down. In the 19th century, Dalston Clements and his wife Katherine planted beech woodlands and the very latest rhododendrons emerging from plant hunting expeditions to China and Japan, as well as the first Cornish rhododendron hybrids. One is the now huge Cornish Red which stand beside the rectory. Katherine Clements became famed worldwide as a strawberry breeder, developing varieties she called Cornish Diamond (1860), Crimson Cluster (1860), King Arthur (1860), Othello (1865), Princess Dagmar (1865-1867) and many others. In the 1920s, Reverend Leggo and his wife held garden parties on the lawn. Reverend Densham arrived in 1931 and achieved fame as a lonely but kindly eccentric. His story can be found on these pages.

To one side of the Rookery lies a former brewhouse created by Daniel Baudris and developed from much older walls. Today, a camellia, viewed by Queen Mary according to village folklore - probably around 1927 - grows within, bearing rich red double flowers in spring. The gardens also host two genetically unique apple trees verified by the Ancient Tree Forum as ‘veteran trees’. Roger called one Densham’s Delight and the other the Warleggan Wassail. They were celebrated in the nineteenth century with their very own wassailing song.