Helen Elizabeth Kuumbi |Artist| Cornwall  

Part One Geological formations * The story starts 390 million years ago with the formation of the Red Devonian sandstone that makes up much of the peninsula as the sediment from eroding mountains is deposited on the sea bed . * Fast forward a hundred million years to the Permian age to a world arid climate, flash flood and explosive volcanic eruptions. The results of these events can still be seen along the shoreline near Kingsand; look for concrete like conglomerates and columns of rhyolite formed from ancient lava (290 million years ago) Prehistory * The earliest evidence of people on the peninsula; flints from Rame head date back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors in the Mesolithic period. Animals such as red deer and wild pig roamed the wooded landscape and lower sea level meant Plymouth sound would have marshlands (9000-4000BC) * An arrowhead and stone axe found in Barn pool date from the neolithic age. Where people starting to clear the woods here so they could farm the land? (4000-2500BC) * The farmers of the bronze age buried their dead in the burial mounds such as the one in barrow park and at Wiggle (2500-500BC) * In the iron age banks, ditches and timber palisades were built to create a promontory fort at Rame head for the farming community to retreat to - traces of their round houses have been found (500BC-400AD) Ancient Kingdoms and Viking Raids * In 705 we find our first written record to the area, King Geraint the Celtic King of Cornwall hands 500 acres of land around Maker over to the Bishop of Sherbourne to protect the Saxon settlements across the Tamar. Egbert King of Wessex and already pushed the border west and taken lands from the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia. In resistance, the Cornish would ally with the Danish Vikings to raid the settlements on the Devon side. To solve the problem, the land came under Saxon rule, and became part of Devon until 1844. Part Two The Norman conquest and medieval age * In 1066 the land around Maker and Rame is given to the Valletort family following the Norman Conquest. Their coat of arms is three boar heads. * The Doomsday book lists Maker as 'Macretone', some say the name derives from the Saint Macre others believe it has roots in the Cornish word 'Magor' meaning ancient walls or ruins. * The Valletorts built the first Church at Rame (Church of St Germanus) Stone work from this early church still survives, most of the Church we see today including its broached spire was built in 1259. * The ferry crossing at Cremyll, or 'Crimble' was first recorded in 1204 and has been a crossing ever since. * St Michael's Chapel on the summit of Rame head was first licensed in 1297 although it was probably already a celtic, sacred site. The Chapel we see today was built in the fourteenth centuary. * St Julian's well dates from fourteenth or fifteenth century and was a place for travellers to stop. * In the painting near Barnpool you can see an old medieval barn that was once there, in this area there was also the ancient village of West Stonehouse, the original landing spot of the Cremyll ferry until sacked and destroyed in 1350 by French sailors. The Tudors and Edgcumbes * By the fifteenth century the land at Maker had come to Edgcumbe family through a dowry. Sir Richard Edgcumbe (1488-1562) was a supporter of Henry Tudors bid to become king. in the 1550's Kingsand is first recorded as the name of the settlement. Legend has it, it was because of a meeting in between Henry Tudor and Richard Edgcumbe in 1484, Henry came ashore to the Kings arms (now Kingsway House) and they plotted to overthrow Richard III. In 1485 Richard Edgcumbe fought and was knighted at battle of Bosworth * Under Henry VIII granted Edgcumbes permission for deer park at Edgcumbe 1515, enable the house to be built. Some of the oldest treasures are the tapestries, dating from the same century and showing hunting scenes. * The defensive Tudor Blockhouse, one of the oldest buildings in the park, was built in 1545. The sea * At the height of the pilchard industry there were ten Pilchard cellars along the coast around Cawsand, Kingsand and Rame head. Most of these were built in the Elizabethan era and were called 'Palaces' as they were the biggest stone buildings in the villages. They were for curing the vast amounts of pilchards landed by the local fishing fleet. Merchants came across from Plymouth to avoid taxes. * In 1588 Spanish Armada appeared on the horizon, a beacon was lit at Rame head to signal to the English fleet. Wall two Part three Civil war, the restoration, and building works in the park * The house was first built at Mount Edgcumbe 1547-1550, but 1660 saw grand expansion, including with a grand new main entrance and west wing. Maker Church, had been demolished and rebuilt around the year 1550 and the present building built soon after. * In 1644 During the civil war parliamentarians attach mount Edgcumbe and raid millbrook and Cawsand. After the restoration - King Charles II is restored to the throne, he is entertained by his Royalist supporters the Edgcumbes and stays in Dodbrook Manor A busy rural landscape * Limestone Quarrying at Cremyll eats away almost an entire hill, Blakes Hill becomes a boat yard, building wooden ships for the Navy. Busy ferry crossing into cornwall and turnpike road carrying mail and travellers. * Farms, local industry, quaysides and settlements speckle the landscape. Anderton, Doodbrook and Eppacombe appear on early maps. St Juliet's chapel at insworke was first licenced in 1331 , the current one built in the 14th century. It all that remains of the ancient manor of Inceworth. * There is tidal mill at Insworke, built in 1598. * In 1650 gunpowder mill at Southdown opens, the cobbles from the quays built at the same time can still beseen. * A windmill above Eppacombe replaces an earlier one further up on Maker heights and is on Martyns 1749 map of Cornwall. * The Kingsbrew House at Southdown dates from 1749 and supplied 40 ships. Lighthouses and gardens * The first lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks was lit in 1698, it built by Henry and the first recorded offshore lighthouse. The great storm of 1703 swept it away andit was replaced by Rudyard's lighthouse in 1709, this lighthouse burned down in 1755. Next came Smeaton's tower, first lit in 1759 and operational until 1882 when Douglass's lighthouse was finished on the other rock. * The early eighteenth century era of garden creation and plant collecting - in 1740 the first orange trees arrive at Mount Edgcumbe, many exotic trees are planted, including the corky- barked, semi-evergreen Lucumbe oak ,which still stands and is now the largest of its species in the country. * In 1760 the folly was created from the ruins of of St Lawrence Chapel in Stonehouse and obelisk that once stood on the site. Part four Portraits and Paintings * Artist Joshua Renoylds and painted portraits of the Edgcumbe family who paid and arranged for his him to study art in Italy. We've also included another portrait - Emma Gilbert (1729- 1807) married Baron George Edgcumbe, her eccentric character such as her love of gambling and pet pig cupid made her a target of satirist. Soldiers and Smugglers * The eighteenth century was the heyday of smuggling, or free-trade, in Cawsand and Kingsand. Tea, brandy, tabacco and silk was bought across the channel from Brittany. The wealth built many of the three-storey merchants houses we see today. Tunnels connected the beaches to houses in Garret street, donkeys were used to transport the goods. The villages were a maze of streets and courtyards and their smuggling was even assisted by the men stationed at Maker Barracks. * In 1820 coast guard cottages were built in direct response to the smuggling and in early nineteenth century saw it become smaller scale. * In 1779 there was an attempted invasion when French and Spanish ships appeared in Cawsand bay, knowing that the English were engaged in the American war of Independence. The close call prompted defensive building work that still stand today. A series of five redoubts , three gun batteries and a barrack block that housed 200 infantry were built around Maker Heights. A sixth fort was built near the obelisk, where ancient oaks once stood. Initially the forts were earthworks, but two were later strengthened with stone redoubts five and four (late known as Grenville battery after remodelling in the Victorian era). There was also a military hospital. * Later, in the mid 1800's another series of forts defended the shores from the threat of a French invasion. Fort Picklecombe was one of these, known as Palmerstone follies as they were commissioned by Lord Palmerstone and never saw action. Cawsand and Tregantle are other examples. Crossing the Tamar * The Breakwater was constructed 1812-1814, the lighthouse added in 1841 . It gives safe anchorage for the navel fleet in Plymouth sound. * The first chain ferries at Torpoint - two steam powered 'floating bridges'- were designed by James Meadows Rendel in 1832. The Cremyll ferry became steam powered In 1885 - the first steam-powered ferry was called the 'Dodo'. * The Royal Albert Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel opened in 185 bringing the railway into Cornwall. Penlee point * In 1827 Queen Adelaide's grotto was built to commemorate the visit of King William IV and Queen Adelaide, although the cave inside it had been used for many centuries by local fisherman. * Pier cellars were originally fish cellars with their own harbour, but were requestioned by the government in 1889 as a torpedo testing range. An iron pier was built to take delivery of the torpedoes and there was a series of underground chambers. Part five A hub of industry and activity * Millbrook was a hub of activity, industry and commercial activities with with sailing barges and then steamboats carrying freight, passengers and post. The creek extended much further to a small harbour, this was gradually filled in and eventually damned and the millpond became the park . There was strong competition between the Millbrook 'red funnel' ferry and the Saltash 'white funnel' as the hurried to get workers to the dockyard and back. Millbrook Steamboat & Trading Company started in 1894. * On the quay at Millbrook there were forges, wheelwrights and a livestock market on the quay as well as a number of shops and alehouses. In the streets behind you would find tannery , many more commercial premises and a workhouse which closed in 1840 * In the 1850s gunpowder mill at Southdown blew itself up, other industries at Southdown used the site: these included a soap factory, fish fertiliser factory and and glue factory. Between 1865-1905 there was copper smelting and silver works. Silver terrace supposedly built from the profits of the waste heaps of the copper smelting, when silver was found. The Southdown Brickworks opereated between 1888-1956. * Further up the creek at Foss Point there were brick and tileworks, operating between 1870- 1914. There was a pottery brickyard closer to the village and a tramline linked the sites, the brick terraces - Clinton, Trefusis and Heanton- were built for the workers. Wall three Part six Impact of the blitz * In 1941 incendiary bombs hit the house, fire left it in ruins. The park was used by military, concrete roads were built for American troops preparing for the D-day landings. In the woods and near Cremyll there are disused fuels stores and pumping stations. * There are traces of the war in the surrounding area; families seeking shelter from the blitz in Plymouth came to the peninsula, some who took up residence in Redoubt 5 which had sat unused for years. The created vegetable garden and planted an apple tree the still grows today. Revival of community traditions * May day celebrations were revived in the 1980s and Black Prince day was brought back. Boat building apprentices carried a wooden flower boat and launched it to see. At the beginning of the century an number of small boats would be taken across to Stonehouse and Devonport as well. Part seven A celebration of the park today Created by the children from their memories of favourite events and activities that have happened in the park . Sources and further reading They following sources were used in our research; Ancient monuments of the UK: available at https://ancientmonuments.uk/ Carne, T and Colywn (1993) Images of the past Carne, T. (1985) Cornwall's forgotten corner, Lodenek Press Cornwall Councils interactive mapping service: https://map.cornwall.gov.uk/website/ccmap Elworthy, J (1994) Millbrook Brick by Brick Freddy Woodward, (1996) The Historic Defences of Plymouth, Cornwall County Council, Gaskell Brown, C (2009) Cremyll and the Cremyll Ferry (Mount Edgcumbe country park) Gaskell Brown, C (2000) Images of Mount Edgcumbe (Western Morning News ltd) Gaskell Brown, C (2006 ) Mount Edgceumbe House and Country Park Guide Book Gill, C (1993) A new history of Plymouth (Devon Books) Martyn T (1784) A new and accurate map of the County of Cornwall, from an actual survey, digital version available at: Digital Archive @ McMaster University Library (rare map collection) Rame heritage collection: available at http://www.rameheritage.co.uk/ Ravenhill W, (1972) John Nordens manuscript maps of Cornwall and its nine hundreds, Exeter University Press Rev. Geoffrey Blanchard White - 'Maker with Rame - notes towards a Parish History'. The archives of Rame Peninsula History Group, available at http://www.ramehistorygroup.org.uk/ The National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Historic England: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list