Talk : Jonathan Lovie

About This Event

In 2019, Christopher Coppen and Jonathan Lovie bought Rumleigh House in the Tamar

Valley, along with the remaining thirty of its original 260 acres. Since then, they have

undertaken extensive research to try to understand more about the history of this small

estate, and particularly its associated designed landscape. The results of this research have

been fascinating and surprising – both in relation to the landscape and successive owners of

the house. Early owners were members of a family closely involved in the development of

the Dock at Plymouth, while later owners included the retired Vice Chancellor of Calcutta

University, and a family who developed and ran an important Tamar Valley fruit and flower

farm from 1929. Perhaps the most surprising discovery has been the remains of a small,

early nineteenth century Picturesque landscape taking advantage of the site’s dramatic

views and river frontage; a composition exactly contemporary with major Picturesque

landscapes in the valley including Endsleigh and Pentillie, with which, on a much smaller

scale, it shares some characteristics.

This talk will explore the development of the landscape at Rumleigh House, and will also

highlight some of the sources which researchers can use to develop their understanding of a

landscape and its social and aesthetic context – sometimes with some very unexpected

results.

Jonathan Lovie will be familiar to many as Devon Garden Trust’s Conservation Officer. He

was formerly an Inspector with English Heritage (now Historic England) with responsibility

for revising the Register of Parks and Gardens in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, and

Warwickshire.