Horticultural Heritage

Sir Lancelot 'Capability' Brown worked at Peper Harow in 1762-3. He designed the estate to be surrounded by a forest belt separating parkland from agricultural land, with the main views across open middle ground towards distant hills and forests creating a sense of the infinite.

He made good use of the tiny River Wey located at the bottom of a sloping lawn by damming and altering its course to create an important feature when viewed from the house. The contours of the lawn were contrived with a great deal of effort on the part of many labourers who shifted enormous mounds of earth with simple wheelbarrows.

Oak, ash, beech and yew were favoured for individual plantings close to the house and Brown placed cedars and pines on prominent knolls and in important positions to emphasise the contours of the park.

Two surviving Cedars of Lebanon in the pleasure grounds west of the house were planted around 1738, pre-dating the construction of the house by 30 years. The girth of the largest is in excess of 26 feet.

On a prominent knoll by the river a 90 feet high Cedar of Lebanon, 24 feet in girth, 230 years old and therefore almost certainly planted by Capability Brown, as is a huge Common Oak occupying a prominent position in front of the house, next to a 19th Century Cedar of Lebanon.

At the fork in the drive, a Spanish Chestnut over 200 years old is also possibly an original planting. Small clumps of yew close to the house date from the mid-18th Century.

Close to the Carriage House and draping its foliage into the courtyard, stands a fine example of an Oriental Plane, likely to have been planted about 1840 at the request of the 5th Viscount Midleton, George Alan Brodrick.

On the rear lawn stands a Blue Atlas Cedar of 13 feet in girth, about 120 years old and likely to have been planted by William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton who was blind for much of his life.

Enclosed is the list of notable trees at Peper Harow. I would be most very grateful if you could pass the details on to the various other owners as appropiate, with my apologies for not having been able to meet them.

The planting date 1735 for the Cedars was drawn from J.C.Loudon's 'Arboretem & Fruticetum Brittanicum' which was the main referece to trees in the 1830's this means they are about the fourth oldest cedars in Britain, all the other early cedars were killed by the intense cold of the winter of 1740.

(8)Loudon remarked on the great variety & form in the Cedars then, something which is notable today (especially in the tree in front of the mansion with the drooping branches which looked like a Deodar). Presumably their was a medieval manor at Peper Harow before the current mansion was built.

(9)The Lawson's cypress 'Albomaculata' is one of the biggest in Britain & a rare cultivar with steamy blotches over the foliage.

(14 & 16)On the mansion lawn, the Shore Pine and the Bishop Pine (not maritime pine as I first pressumed: it is abnormal for its species and probably comes from seed from the northen end of its range in California) are fast growing young examples of scarce species.

(15)The Jeffery Pine another Californian is the biggest in Surrey and exceptional for SE England: it prefers a higher rainfall.

(19)The big old Poplar by the river is, I suspect, a relatively common clone, 'Regenerata' Alan Mitchell, who made the previous measurements, felt it was a rarer form, 'Marilandica', I suspect on account of its huge size: whichever it is, it has the largest recorded trunk in Britain. It seems to me to lack some of the features of 'Marilandica', but if any records come to light in the house paperwork which confirm what was planted as, I shall be very pleased to hear.

(18)The riveside soils are ideal for the growth of Poplars, and the young Balsam Poplar, which I suspect is a clone called 'Balsam Spire' is also the largest speciman of this variety which we have so far recorded.

(20)The Cherry below Park Avenue is likely to be an exceptional example of a form of wild cherry with double flowers, but this can only be confirmed when it flowers.

(21)The Sargents Cherry is likely to prove the best in Surrey.

(22)The Hurgarian Oak is a fine example of a scarce but magnificent species.

(23)The Luscombe Oak is probably the joint tallest in Britain.

(27)The Churchyard Yew is one of the country's oldest trees, and likely to be a little over 1000 years old.

This is a notable assemblage of trees, it is particulary remarkable that no trees of great note seem to have been lost since Alan Mitchell's 1987 visit, which was before the two great storms. I hope that in due course some of the landowners will be inspired to plant a few more unusal trees, in order to perpetuate the estate's great arboricultural tradition.

New Planting

There have been several new Yew hedges planted:
On boundary between Park Avanue and Old Cedars.
On Boundaries between Dairy Cottage and Laundry Cottage lawns.
On road boundary by Carriage House south / Dairy Cottage / Laundry Cottage

Other New Trees near river bank on Dairy Cottage land;
Flowering Cherry
Balsam Poplar
Weeping Willow