 |
Home
Restoration of Springmead Garden
Brightlingsea's 'Mini-Heligan' restored
|
|
|
|
Brightlingsea's 'Mini-Heligan' restored
Location: Essex
February 2003
The restoration of the gardens at Springmead, a large house bequeathed to the people of Brightlingsea in 1927, has taken a step closer to becoming reality thanks to a £25,000 grant from the LHI.
Situated on the site of a former Roman villa and spring, Springmead dates back to the late 19th Century and was built by Captain Arthur Wenlock. A prominent inhabitant of this seafaring town, Captain Wenlock died in 1927, leaving the house and its one and a half acres of grounds to the people of Brightlingsea.
The years that followed saw Springmead converted to social housing, but a lack of funds to maintain the gardens saw them fall into disrepair. Concern that this once-glorious attraction was failing to properly honour the memory of Captain Wenlock in providing an area for enjoyment by the people of Brightlingsea led to the formation of ‘Friends of Springmead’. Now, after two years of hard work, the group has secured the funding required to return the gardens to their former glory.
As part of the project, they will research the history of the site, investigate the importance of the spring to the town and find out more about the Wenlock family’s role within Brightlingsea’s seafaring heritage.
Val Gilders, Chair, Friends of Springmead, commented: “Springmead is a unique site. Locally, people refer to the gardens as a ‘mini-Heligan’, after the famous site in Cornwall, because they provide a lovely oasis in the middle of Brightlingsea.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
