The History of Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens
Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens was acquired by South African-based entrepreneur Penny Streeter, owner of Benguela Collection Hospitality Group, in July 2017 and reopened to the public two years later after a rigorous program of restoration and maintenance.
But the gardens have a rich history dating back hundreds of years and there are a number of fascinating characters that created and shaped the landscape and mansion house to become the magnificent estate it is today.
In the November episode of the Growing Leonardslee podcast, The History of Leonardslee, General Manager of the estate Adam Streeter interviews Head Gardener Jamie Harris, who has been exploring the archives and speaking to long time locals in the Horsham area to discover the fascinating story of Leonardslee and those involved in shaping its history.
A Kings Gift
The first key event was when King Charles II granted the lands of St Leonard's Forest, which Leonardslee was a part of, to his physician Sir Edward Greaves. The soil was too acidic for agriculture and so it had always remained as a natural woodland with wild animals and deer for the chase. From Sir Greaves, the gardens were passed on to the Aldridge family.
In around 1803, a portion of the Aldridge estate was purchased by Charles George Beauclerk and that’s when the first major works happened at the gardens. He did a lot of landscaping and created an area called the American garden, one of the first in the country at the time, full of exotics, palms and conifers but also camellias, rhododendrons and magnolias that we see here today.
He planted some of the first sequoiadendron giganteum trees in Britain which most likely came from the first stock introduced to the country from North America. In the early 19th century, collecting live plant specimens and seeds from around the globe was popular. New flora was coming into British gardens and people with enough money were able to diversify their plant collection. A trend that has continued through Leonardslee’s different ownerships.
Wealthy landowners at the time often had connections to plant hunters such as Forrest, Wilson and Kingdon-Ward who were exploring the furthest reaches of China, India and the Americas. This gave rise to a number of woodland gardens in Britain, many of which are still with us today.
Charles George Beauclerk and his family are rumoured to have an interesting past. We believe he socialised with the Frankenstein author Mary Shelley who was fond of Charles’ son, Aubrey Beauclerk. Aubrey married another woman, but one day when Mary was visiting, Aubrey’s wife drowned in the lake under mysterious circumstances. It was said that she was ‘seized by giddiness’, something that wouldn’t be accepted today we suspect.
In around 1852, a wealthy merchant named William Hubbard who earned his fortune trading with Russia, purchased Leonardslee. He added 57 acres to the estate making it a total of 1,000 acres. Hubbard’s role in the gardens was more focused on management than adding to the plant collection. However, he did build the mansion, formally known as St Leonard's Lodge and renamed it Leonardslee as we now know it. Hubbard said he felt like the lodge wasn’t worthy of the estate and so he created the Italianate mansion, designed by T. L. Donaldson. Presumably, it was named Leonardslee as it lies in the lea of a valley.
Photographs from the time show that the mansion has changed dramatically over the years. There was an entire wing that has since been demolished that housed animal trophies acquired by big-game hunters. A sign of wealth and power at the time. There was once an orangery attached to one side of the building which was destroyed in the great storm of 1987.
Hubbard's daughter, Louisa Maria Hubbard, was an advocate for women's rights, education and employment. She founded a teacher training facility in Chichester which ended up becoming the Royal College of Midwives.
The Loder Family
The transformation of Leonardslee into the wide array of flora and fauna that we see today can be best attributed to the Loder family. Sir Robert Loder purchases High Beeches in around 1847 and his son Sir Edmund Loder acquires Leonardslee in 1889 from his father-in-law William Hubbard. Three years later, Robert’s brother Gerald buys Wakehurst. All three of these famous woodland gardens are open to the public today.
Sir Edmund Loder resided at Leonardslee for just over 30 years and his work in the field of horticulture was so significant that his exploits are studied in horticultural curriculums. He was a keen traveller and his first action was to create a natural habitat for the ferns and Alpine plants he collected. He employed the skilled Pulham craftsmen to erect a rock garden and source rocks to suit Loder’s design requirements, as natural rocks were not readily available. They combined large stone and a unique, concrete-like material called 'Pulhamite' to create a natural setting. They offer a wonderful place to visit today, especially to see the explosion of colour in the Spring.
The year 1901 marked the beginning of Leonardslee’s famous rhododendron collection. Loder created the loderi hybrids, renowned as one of the most important rhododendron hybrid collections in the world. He acquired rhododendron griffithianum from South Lodge, took the pollen and crossed it with rhododendron fortunei and in 1907 it flowered to become the first loderi hybrid.
This hybrid takes the large flowers and bark texture from the griffithianum and the scent, hardiness and vigorous growth from the fortunei. Over time he created over 35 different loderi hybrids with Loderi King George being the most famous. Many of these only exist at Leonardslee and people come from all over the world to see them.
Loder also introduced wild animals to Leonardslee including a colony of wallabies whose descendants are still around today after over 100 years on the estate. We are lucky that wallabies don’t eat rhododendrons! Other animals introduced included ostriches, capybaras, ibex, springboks, gazelles, antelopes and beavers in the lakes – all gone now, sadly.
Sir Edmund Loder died in 1920, three years after his son Robin died in the great war. Ownership of Leonardslee then went to Sir Edmund’s wife. Then in 1945, Sir Edmund’s grandson Sir Giles Loder takes over. He was another keen plantsman with an affection for camellias which he exhibited at RHS shows and won multiple awards. He was very involved in the estate and created the Coronation and Camellia Gardens but unfortunately, he had to sell off much of the estate, around 900 acres during his tenure. Many of the locals around Leonardslee live in houses built on land that was once a part of the estate.
In 1981, Giles’s son Robin becomes the garden custodian. He manages the gardens up until 2010 when they were sold and closed to the public. Interestingly, Robin has said that the great storm of 1987 was a good thing for Leonardslee. At the time there were large areas of the estate that were unsafe and closed off to visitors. The storm removed much of the deadwood and allowed the Loders to replant and tidy up the floral displays.
New Beginnings
After the gardens closed in 2010, the wallaby colony was moved off-site to Wendy nearby. As direct descendants of Sir Edmund Loder’s original collection, they are important to the Loder family. In 2017, when the gardens were acquired by Penny Streeter OBE and the Benguela Collection Hospitality Group, it was decided that some of the wallabies should return to Leonardslee.
Leonardslee is host to seven lakes including the deer park lake, all manmade and created at different times, for different reasons. This began in the 16th century when lakes were made to provide water for the local iron industry. Trees were felled for charcoal to reduce the iron ore and to generate heat for smelting. Products of the area included cannons and cannonballs, hinges, horseshoes, nails and much more. The area is rich in iron, with an ericaceous loam on sandstone bedrock.
It is rumoured that Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring had their eyes on Leonardslee for a base if they were victorious in the Battle of Britain. However, it should be noted that our head gardener Jamie Harris has worked with other woodland gardens in the area that also make this claim. If anyone is unhappy with how the estate is currently managed, just remember that it could have been much worse, Adam says!
Just after the second world war in 1947, the box office hit Black Narcissus was in part filmed at Leonardslee. Directed by renowned directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger it went on to win two Oscars and a Golden Globe. Many of the outdoor shots in the movie were filmed at Leonardslee to match the look of the Himalayas.
Not to be forgotten is the legend of the Leonardslee Dragon. St Leonard’s Forrest acquired its name from a French hermit named St Leonard who in the 6th-century slew the last dragon in England. It is said that as the dragon was dying, drops of its blood fell around Leonardslee which gave birth to the numerous Lily of the Valley plants that we still see today. The yearly Leonardslee Illuminated and Enchanted events, a display of visual delights and sound, feature the Leonardslee dragon for all to see today.
Join us at Leonardslee to explore these amazing woodland gardens, with their extraordinary history. It offers the best day out for families and walkers and anyone who loves beautiful English gardens and woodlands, with plenty for adults and children to see and do in Sussex, offering fantastic value for a holiday trip.
