Caerhays Castle
| Caerhays Castle | |
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The castle from the south east
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 Caerhays Castle
 Caerhays Castle shown within Cornwall |
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| OS grid reference | SW9710541613 |
| Coordinates | 50°14′23″N 4°50′48″W / 50.2396°N 4.8467°WCoordinates: 50°14′23″N 4°50′48″W / 50.2396°N 4.8467°W |
Caerhays Castle or Carhayes Castle (translation of caerhays into English: "enclosed castle") is a semi-castellated manor house 0.5 mi (0.80 km) south of the village centre, St Michael Caerhays, Cornwall, England, UK. It overlooks Porthluney Cove on the English Channel. The garden hosts the largest collection of magnolias in England and contains one of four National Magnolia Collections under the auspices of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens.
In the Early Middle Ages, the manor belonged to the family. The earliest record of the name is Karihaes in 1259, and is recorded as Carihays in 1379, but its original meaning is obscure. In about 1379, it passed by marriage to the Trevanion family after the marriage of Robert Trevanion to Johanna Arundell, daughter and heiress of Rudolph Arundell of Caerhays. John Trevanion inherited the estate in 1703 after which he improved the manor house existing on the site and developed gardens.
With the death of William Trevanion in 1767, the estate passed to his sister's son, John Bettesworth. John's son, John Bettesworth-Trevanion, built the present castle on a site close to the former manor house between 1807 and 1810; his architect was the Anglo-Welsh John Nash. The castle was built close to the site of the original ancient home that had itself undergone expansion during the reign of King Henry VIII.
After Bettesworth-Trevanion left for Paris, unable to pay his bills, Michael Williams II purchased Caerhays from his creditors in 1854. As the house had been unoccupied for over a decade and had not been watertight for some of that time, his younger brother Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Tregullow (1791–1870), with his son John Michael Williams (1813–1880), JP, DL, initiated an extensive repair programme. Michael Williams II died in 1858 and left Caerhayes to his eldest son John Michael Williams (1813–1880), whilst he left Scorrier House to his sixth son George Williams (1827–1891), DL, JP, High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1875. After the death of John Michael Williams in 1880 his second son, John Charles Williams (1861–1939), then aged 18, inherited the Caerhays estate. (His elder brother was Michael Williams (1857–1899) of Gnaton Hall, who died without progeny). John Charles Williams married in 1884, at which time the house again went through restoration and alteration. He became a plantsman, sponsoring plant hunting expeditions in order to fill the castle garden with new acquisitions. Seeds brought back from China by Ernest Henry Wilson in 1903 were donated to J.C. Williams by Harry Veitch. The current owner in 2012 is Charles Williams.
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Wikipedia