The Victorian world lost for 140 years, rediscovered and restored in Devon

Canonteign Falls is a successful tourist attraction on the edge of Dartmoor. It also has two National Collections of ferns. You can take your children for an adventurous scramble up the escarpment of one of the highest waterfalls in England and dabble along the way in the Victorian passion for Dryopteris and Polystichum cultivars. In short, it has something for everyone.

The climb up the valley is immensely rewarding, but not for the faint hearted. The steps are irregular, often displaced by exposed tree roots and interrupted by outcrops of stone. Perhaps the best time to make the ascent is now, when sunlight shines through the young leaves of beech and oak and bluebells and wood anemones cover the woodland floor.

At one point, you cross over the stream and see the majestic arc of Lady Exmouth’s Falls glittering in the sunlight.

Further up is the series of gorges made by the original stream over tens of thousands of years. Higher still is the Victorian Fern Garden, richly planted with a great variety of ferns, although the whole valley is thick with wild species. When you reach the top, you step over the leat that feeds Lady Exmouth’s Falls until the path bursts open to a viewpoint known as Buzzards’ View, where the rich and rolling south Devon landscape stretches into the distance. It is an exhilarating experience.

The Canonteign estate — originally well over 2,000 acres — has an interesting history. In 1812, it was bought by Admiral Sir Edward Pellew Bt, who had enjoyed a successful naval career during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1814, he was raised to the peerage and took the title Baron Exmouth of Canonteign in the County of Devon. Two years later, he commanded the Anglo-Dutch fleet during the Battle of Algiers, one of many naval campaigns to put an end to the activities of the Barbary corsairs who had for centuries pillaged the shores of the western Mediterranean, seizing the inhabitants and consigning them to slavery in north Africa. Lord Exmouth’s substantial naval force completely destroyed the Algerian fleet and compelled the Dey of Algiers to release some 1,200 enslaved Christians, although the Barbary pirates were not finally eliminated until the French captured Algiers in 1830.

The Admiral was upgraded from Baron to Viscount and retired back to Devon, but he never actually settled at Canonteign, preferring instead to live in a large house called West Cliff in Teignmouth itself.

Throughout his career, the Admiral was able to amass significant wealth from the proceeds of prize money, most notably when he commanded the East Indies station in 1805–09. This good fortune facilitated the acquisition of Canonteign. It was, however, his eldest son Pownoll — also a naval officer enriched by prize money — who took up residence at Canonteign Manor itself, the Elizabethan house at the centre of the estate.

It was Pownoll, later 2nd Viscount Exmouth, who commissioned London architect Charles Robert Ayers in 1828 to design and build a new house halfway up the hillside above the Falls. Canonteign House is a white mansion in the Greek Revival style, with Ionic columns, pilasters, floating pediments and a supreme neo-Classical elegance that places it among the greatest of Devon’s country houses.

One of the unexpected assets of the Canonteign estate turned out to be the presence of lead and silver lodes deep beneath the surface of the soil. A large number of hopeful speculators were granted leases or licences by the Exmouths to work these mines. The first was John Williams, a member of the west Cornwall mining family whose descen-dants own the great magnolia gardens at Caerhays Castle. He began to develop what was known as the Canonteign Mine in 1828.

However, the most successful enterprise, known as Frank Mills, was granted a lease by the Canonteign estate in 1853. The stream running down the valley from Dartmoor was the source of its success. Some of its water was diverted into a new reservoir, from which a heavy iron pipe carried it to the mill and the mine 250ft below. The strength of the flow was enough to pump water from the mine and enable the miners to drill ever deeper in search of mineral deposits, nearly 1,000ft below the surface. The turbines were later turned by coal-fuelled machinery that served to crush the ore.

Flooding was a recurrent problem: on one occasion, some careless working near the surface punctured the lake (where the ore was washed) and emptied its contents into the workings. The damage was quickly repaired and the lake, now known as Swan Lake and populated by black swans, is especially beautiful when the purple rhodo-dendrons that surround it are in flower. Nevertheless, flooding, as well as diminishing financial returns, caused the mine to close in 1880. It was the last mine in the Teign valley and almost its only monument today are heaps of spoil along the river bank.

The history of the Canonteign Falls after 1880 is obscured by legend. At some point, however, the piping below the reservoir was adjusted so that the water spewed out in the beautiful arching flow that we see today. Lady Exmouth’s waterfall has a clear drop of 230ft before it meets the natural stream again and continues on its journey, cascading down through massive rock formations into the lakes below and finally into the River Teign.

We are told that these Falls were created in 1890 when the kindly 3rd Lady Exmouth sought to help the redundant miners and employed them to divert the water. The problem with this story is that Lady Exmouth died in 1870, so the present owners are researching the oral history of the estate’s development. We are also told that she had made a fern garden among the rocks of the main valley. This is perfectly possible, not least because there was a craze for ferns for much of the second half of the 19th century, but no record of its existence has come yet to light among the estate’s papers and records.

Successive Viscounts lived at Canonteign for nearly 200 years, but the estate struggled to make ends meet until the 1980s, when the 10th Viscount opened the Falls as a tourist attraction. He also constructed four more lakes, beautifully landscaped, downstream from Swan Lake. In 1994, Christopher Baylis bought Canonteign House, together with 90 acres. Subsequent purchases have enabled the Baylises to acquire Canonteign Falls and build up a holding of 400 acres.

The Baylises were told about a Victorian fernery at Canonteign, but they had no idea of its site. Then, in 2009, a heavy snowfall damaged a venerable planting of cherry laurels and revealed the stonework of an extensive rock garden in a quarry-like area through which the original stream still flows. Clearly, this was the site of the long-lost fernery. The Baylises set to clearing it, firming up its boulders, and replanting it with as many varieties of fern as possible — including Dicksonia tree ferns from New Zealand that would not have formed part of the original layout, but which make a sympathetic addition to the site today.

They continued planting more ferns until they realised that they needed advice on how to source, cultivate and display them. Plant Heritage introduced them to Julian Reed, an enthusiastic and distinguished pteridologist, who had for many years taken over the collections of other fern-lovers who were no longer able to look after them. Mr Reed advised, researched, hunted for rarities and eventually built up Canonteign’s fern collection to some 400 cultivars.

In 2022, the collections of Dryopteris and Polystichum ferns, safely dispersed through-out the estate, were awarded the accolade of National Collection status by Plant Heritage.

The work of conservation continues and additions from Mr Reed’s private collection will ensure a secure future for these historic ferns at Canonteign Falls. Mr and Mrs Baylis are firmly committed to researching the history of the estate and protecting its future. The wellbeing of the ferns and the Falls alike are guaranteed for generations to enjoy.

Canonteign Falls, near Exeter, Devon — find out more about paying a visit at the Canonteign website.

This feature originally appeared in the April 15 issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.