Trewithen Exhibition

The exhibition is currently displayed in the outdoor seating area at the Tea Shed.

To mark the 300th anniversary of Trewithen as home to the same family, we created an exhibition that charts its history from 1715 when Philip Hawkins bought it right through to the present day.

Discover why Philip is alleged to have locked his wife Elizabeth away in her room for months and why that particular bedroom now has the reputation of being haunted.  Read about Philip’s daughter-in-law Anne Heywood, a sophisticated lady from London, whose father provided six Chippendale chairs for her to embroider – fearful that she might otherwise get bored and fall foul of some Cornish mischief.  Wonder too at Sir Christopher Hawkins who never married but whose tireless entrepreneurial spirit left a lasting legacy on Cornwall’s industrial heritage.

Thanks to wonderful architecture that was unique for historic houses of that time and the superb garden that George Johnstone established in 1910 when he inherited the estate, Trewithen has become one of the top places to visit in Cornwall.  Find out why George had many of the trees cleared to make way for the seeds brought back by plant hunters on their exhibitions to China and why his wife, Alison Johnstone, will forever be memorialised by a variety of rhododendron.