Post by Dave on May 29, 2020 18:32:22 GMT
Radford Park Castle & Lakes 29th May 2020
In total nearly two thousand English county homes have been lost and gone for good, some had major fires and ended up being demolished, others were left abandoned after their owners got into financial trouble and then they either suffered fires or simply fell to pieces. I find it sad so much heritage has been lost along with all the history, it often seems it is just far easier to pull down wonderful buildings, rather than finding a way to save them. But there are often bits of these once great estates that survive that at least give you a feel of how it once was.
One such property was Radford House in Plymstock near Plymouth, a house with some amazing history and one I would have loved to have seen. A house that played a central role in local Plymouth history for over 600 years. The lands were originally held by William le Abbé during the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272). His successor, Walter le Abbé, took the name Radford. It descended through the Radfords until it passed to the well-regarded Harris family during the reign of Edward VI (1461-1483).
The house and estate were owned by the Harris family for over 500 years. During the reign of Elizabeth I, Sir Christopher Harris (b. c1553 - d.1625) represented Plymouth in Parliament and was also Vice-Admiral of Devon. His naval connections meant that he regularly entertained at Radford the finest captains in the fleet including the victory celebration of those who fought against the Spanish Armada attended by Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Howard and Hawkins amongst others. Interesting fact that Sir Walter Raleigh was held prisoner at Radford house before being executed in 1618.
The house passed through generations of the Harris (and later Harris-Bulteel) family until it was sold following the bankruptcy of the 'Harris Bulteel & Co Naval Bank' in August 1914. The estate was bought in 1917 for £11,000 (approx £440,000 - 2007) by William ("Billy") A. Mitchel. As he preferred to live in his other house, a modern Edwardian villa residence nearby called "Rockville Park", Radford was let to various tenants including a Col. Parker and Mrs Jarrett-Bell (widow of the Director of HM Royal Dockyard, Devonport). The final tenants were the estate lodge keepers, a married couple, who conducted guided tours of the house.
In 1930, Mr Mitchell died suddenly of a heart attack whilst addressing the County Council at Exeter Castle. Much of his estate was donated to charities but Radford House passed to his 15-year old son, W.A. Gordon Mitchell. Sadly due to a great deal of vandalism and theft from the house it was decided it was passed the point of economic repair. In 1937 the work to demolish Radford House started with a team of seven men in six days reducing the house so that nothing remained on site leaving only the gardens, lodges, farms and cottages.
The park was then sold for housing and thankfully the parkland and lake despite further development, is still intact, providing a poignant memorial with its mock castle gateway, beautiful lake and fine trees to the loss of one of the most historically interesting houses in Devon.
Around 1830 John Harris built a dam across the western end of the tidal creek to create a permanent lake,( Radford Lake) fed by a small stream. This lake was used for pleasure, a boathouse and ornamental gardens were added to the West side, and stocked with fish, wildfowl and water plants. So on side of the lake you have what I believe is a fresh water lake and on the other side a salt water Lake.
On the centre on the dam a small mock gothic castle was build. . This was to be a cottage for the groundsman who also controlled the main sluice gate which was built at the southern end of the dam. Opening this would drain the entire lake so enabling cleaning. The dam and castle eventually passed into Plymouth City Council’s care. Initially it was let to tenants but for the last forty plus years it has been empty except for a brief period as a council store. It is very small inside small, consisting of one downstairs kitchen/diner, toilet/bathroom and two interconnected bedrooms reached via a spiral staircase. At one time a family of ten lived there. Sadly it is suffering from neglect which is a crying shame.
The boathouse was built along with an armoury and St. Kevernes cottage which was lived in by estate staff, all these buildings are now ruins and are listed buildings. The boathouse has a ghost story of its own. The White Lady of Radford. she was one of several girls living at Radford in the 18th century. It is said that she made friends with a local boy from nearby Oreston, her parents stopped her from seeing him because of his lowly rank. However, she left the house (with the help of a maid servant) intent on disregarding her parent’s wishes. As was her habit, she always wore white in the summer and so it was on this particular day when she met the young man. They took the boat across the lake which capsized drowning both of them. She has been seen many times over the years.
So I knew before I set off this morning I would have plenty to see and would do a fair bit of walking, I had to park the car in a local street close to the entrance to the park on Radford Park Road. The walk to the first lake Radford Lake (fresh water one) was much shorter than I expected it to be, this was through what was once the deer park of the estate. I turned right and walked alone a wooded pathway and soon was at the dam. I had planned to be there when the tide was in as it does not look so good when it is out.
This lake is known as Hooe Lake but is often called Shipwreck Lake as it is a graveyard for a good number of ships that are all rotting away, but they are great to take photos of. As I walked further around in search of the old boathouse I came across the entrance to Radford Caves.
The entrance was fenced off many years ago due to damage etc being caused by the local youth, but it is claimed Sir Walter Raleigh did managed to escape once while in captivity at Radford House and hid in the caves. While doing some research yesterday I came across a video of two men who has a combined age of 125 years old going into the caves( they have a key for the padlock) after watching I can confirm no one on earth could get me in there
Link To Cave Video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGXmPGWKKb8
At the boathouse I stumbled across a very old gentleman who I found out lives in the gatehouse, he was doing a bit of tidying up. He grew up there and had so many interesting stories to tell and it was a real joy to talk with him. A really enjoyable day and another one to cross of my to do list.
How the house looked
