Warley Place

Every ‘lost garden’ has an air of melancholy romance, but some are sadder than others.

Ellen Willmott's Garden, Alfred Parsons (1847-1920). Private Collection.

Perhaps it’s the ruined remains of Warley Place’s demolished Queen Anne house that add such poignancy to its broken garden. Basement foundations and the crumbling walls of a once-bright, plant-filled conservatory are all that’s left of an estate that Royalty - of both gardening and regal varieties - once fell over themselves to visit.

Warley once belonged to Miss Ellen Ann Willmott (1858-1934), plantswoman, botanist and garden-maker. She divided opinion in her heyday – late Victorian/ early Edwardian times – but no one could doubt her talents, both in and out of the border. The beauty of her three gardens was also undisputed: Warley Place, Tresserve, in the French Alps and Boccanegra, on the Italian Riviera.

Ellen Willmott’s villa at Tresserve is now the local mairie. Boccanegra is privately owned and gardened.  Its keeper, Ursula Piacenza, was recently awarded the Veitch Medal for her work.

Warley Place, Miss Willmott’s pièce de résistance, suffered, seemingly, the cruellest fate: looted by plant thieves then auctioned after her death in 1934, demolished just before World War II, then left to slumber. Yet even in its ruined state, Warley has found a new peace.

On first glance there’s little ‘of interest’ to see in the reserve but patience and quiet reflection yield satisfaction both to wildlife and garden lovers. The Warley Place Volunteers, a dedicated group that meet every Monday to look after the site, have revealed just enough of the lost landscape to entrance visitors and accommodate the wide range of animal, bird, insect and plant life that has made Warley its home.

It’s a delicate balance: stabilising and maintaining century-and-more-old garden ruins, while keeping down some true thugs – such as giant hogweed and some exotic bamboo that, left to its own devices had run rampant – allowing native wildlife to thrive.

At first sight it may seem Miss Willmott would have hated the ‘wild’ approach taken here and, of course, no one wants to see their life’s work trashed. But exciting new material has recently been unearthed regarding Ellen Willmott’s life and gardens, including one telling detail: she herself had a ‘wild garden’ and, with her sister Rose, went on plant hunting trips around the Essex countryside, looking for gaps in her collection of native species.

Perhaps a small part of Miss Willmott would not be so horrified after all…

Find a podcast about Miss Willmott and Warley Place called The Ghost of Warley Place here

Warley Place, Brentwood, is now a Nature Reserve run by Essex Wildlife Trust, with an active team of volunteers caring for and restoring the gardens.

This site is a Grade II Garden listed with Historic England, and is part of our Brentwood Inventory which can be accessed here.

text with thanks to Sandra Lawrence

for more on Ellen Willmott click here