Media release from the Tamar Protection Society in Cornwall, England on their nearly £50,000 lottery grant to expand an Elizabethan garden in Saltash, Cornwall.

TAMAR PROTECTION SOCIETY
Registered Charity 1080453
Company Registration Number 3789935
Registered Address. Deacon Jewell Ltd, 7 West Street, LISKEARD, PL14 6BW

16 February 2006

For immediate release

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

An Elizabethan garden in Saltash, Cornwall, UK is set to branch out thanks to a £48,700 lottery grant.

Mary Newman’s Cottage has received £48,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to create an Elizabethan garden complete with traditional varieties of herbs, fruit, vegetables and flowers. A further grant of £11,500 from Cornwall Environment Trust will be used to renovate the cottage windows, carry out work to interior wood panelling, upgrade an outdoor Victorian toilet, and modernise the existing kitchen so that it can provide refreshments for visitors.

Believed in local history to be the former home of Mary Newman, wife of Sir Francis Drake, today the cottage is a small museum leased by the Tamar Protection Society from Caradon District Council. The cottage is the oldest surviving Tudor building in Saltash and has been cared for by the Tamar Protection Society since the 1970s. The museum is staffed by volunteers and is open on Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays from Easter to the end of October, and also for school visits and special events.

Sarah Prattent, chairman of the Tamar Protection Society, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have secured the funding to transform the garden and improve the cottage. Having the cottage in an authentic historical setting will mean that visitors will get a true picture of what ordinary life was like in Tudor times. The grants will also help pay for improved interpretation and educational areas, which will make a big difference to visiting schools.”

The Society is still deciding what to include in the garden, but the chosen plants will reflect those commonly used in cooking and medicines of the time. For instance, beet juice was a remedy for dandruff, although it was also believed to set the blood on fire. Roses were good for inflamed brains, and dill was used to bring relief to a cold and windy stomach.

Sarah said: “The Elizabethan garden is very much a partnership project. The Tamar Valley Service assisted us by researching medieval plants and putting together our initial budget. Caradon Integrated Action Plan helped us with our bid for match funding, and students from Plymouth College of Art and Design will be creating display material recording the project’s progress. We hope to have the garden complete in 2007.”

To receive regular emails with progress updates and to find out more about the Tamar Protection Society contact tamarps@rya-online.net

Media enquiries contact:
Kevin Procter, Tamar Protection Society, 07767 444816

The Tamar Protection Society was formed in 1968 as an environmental action group to protect the River Tamar. The Society first proposed the Tamar Valley should become an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1969 and fought a successful nationwide campaign to stop the building of a power station at Insworke Point. The Society has now grown to an incorporated registered charity, which has successfully restored and operated Mary Newman’s Cottage, a Grade 2 listed building believed to date from around 1480, and Elliott’s Store, a time warp of a post-war Open All Hours corner shop.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From museums and historic buildings to parks and nature reserves to celebrating traditions, customs and history, the HLF has awarded over £3 billion to projects that open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy.

Thanks for everyone’s patience while I’ve been sick over the past few weeks. I’m mostly on the mend now (even managed to work in the garden for a couple of hours today!) and will be back at posting and emailing and working on the site.

The British Library is fundraising to secure the unique 16th-century music manuscript ‘My Ladye Nevells Booke’ for the nation. It is one of the finest Tudor music manuscripts in existence and contains 42 pieces for keyboard by William Byrd, the greatest English composer of his age.

Click for images and information on how you can donate

Sorry for the lack of anything on this blog for nearly two weeks. We had our annual board meeting at work at the beginning of February and literaly 12 hours after it finished, I woke up sick and have been dealing with that ever since. I’m almost back to 100% now though!

Over the weekend I sorted through some links that I’ve had saved for a while and finally added them to the Links of Interest section. I also did some reading and note taking and now need to get down to the library and photocopy some of Statutes of the Realm…

Karen Harper, who has written several mysteries featuring Elizabeth I has now turned her pen to Mary Boleyn. The novel will be coming out at the end of February in the US and UK. You can pre-order it by clicking the link below and help support this website through the Amazon Associates program.

A follow up to the post from Jan. 25, from Peterborough Today:

A UNIQUE aspect marked this year’s Katharine of Aragon commemorative service at Peterborough Cathedral.

For the first time since the Reformation, a Catholic Priest was invited to address the congregation at the service.

Full article here