Brunel's Hidden Kingdom: The Full Story of the Estate He Created and His Planned House at Watcombe, Torquay [Hardcover]

I must declare an interest in this fascinating book, as my husband is the great, great grandson of I K Brunel's head gardener and estate manager, Alexander Forsyth. Forsyth was a fine gardener, now almost totally forgotten; the creator of the arboretum at Alton Towers and "a great tree man" who caried out Brunel's great tree-planting scheme at his West Country estate at Watcombe. Geoffrey Tudor's diligent research has done much to bring Forsyth back to life and perhaps to the deserved notice of posterity. However, other readers will naturally read Brunel's Hidden Kingdom with the correct aim of finding out more about Brunel himself, and they will not be disappointed for this is the most interesting theme of the book. Through understanding Brunel's endeavours to create his estate, new lights are shown on the character of the great engineer. Alongside his incredible drive, workrate, vision and inventiveness (which extended to the science of planting trees upright on steep slopes), Tudor discoves a more complex picture of Brunel as a more private, gentle, family man; as a philanthropist, anxious to take good care of his employees, and as a man who, by his eminent position and landholdings, felt obliged to live up to his responsibilities in local politics and to do good in the local community, even to the extent of quietly rescuing the local vicar who was neither provident nor practical; and also (successfully) objecting to an industrial scheme that would have ruined a local beauty spot. As such, Tudor's book sheds very interesting lights upon the social relations in the 19th century at a time of rapid change, when far-flung and isolated parts of the country were becoming linked to the rest and gentrified.

Yet the creation of his estate was clearly no diversion from the cares of London and "proper" engineering schemes; Tudor overthrows previous assumptions and shows how Brunel was as obsessed and driven in its creation as he was in building his ships and railways, and at the same time. If Brunel's estate provided him with a refuge and diversion from the cares of London, it was a diversion whose design was pursued with nothing less than his normal vigour and rigour. Sadly, Brunel's achievement at Watcombe - with the considerable assistance of Forsyth - is little known now, and primarily for two reasons. Firstly, Brunel died before building his house there and by the time the magnificent grounds had matured, 20 or 30 years later, they no longer had associations with the great man. Second, the integrity of the estate - which Brunel had always said should be open for any local person to freely wander in - was eroded by the piecemeal sell-off of areas for building, and finally by the destruction of many of the fine trees in storms. Fortunately, the central part of the Watcombe estate does survive, with some magnificent trees, and is presently being restored by dedicated volunteers. It is to be hoped that this fine book will bring public attention to one of Brunel's greatest - and most unusual - achievements, and to hitherto neglected aspects of his character, as a landscape designer, family man and as a prominent local landowner and philanthropist.

The South West Maritime History Society
Issue 71 - March 2008 Brunel's Hidden Kingdom Reviewed by Bill Kelly

Geoffrey Tudor has spent more than twenty years researching the Brunels in Torbay and, at 84 years of age, is still enthusing South West audiences. According to Angus Buchanan in his foreword to Helen Hillard's compilation of some of Geoffrey's work, the restoration of Brunel's forgotten gardens began when Geoffrey discovered this treasure whilst walking in Watcombe Park. The main source material for the book is the `Watcombe Garden Book' that was started by Brunel in 1853; however, Geoffrey's research identifies that the Watcombe venture started as early as 1847. Helen's compilation promises much by charting the chronology of Brunel's other achievements alongside the 12-year duration of his Watcombe project.

From 1836, the Brunel family lived in Duke Street, close to London's St James's Park. It is probable that Mary, Brunel's wife, would have walked in the park and perhaps even met J C Loudon or W A Nesfield, eminent landscape gardeners of the time who followed the Gardenesque movement; if not she may have read copies of `The Gardener's Magazine' edited by Loudon. As the book suggests, when the Brunels aspired to a family estate in Devon where his work on the railway had taken him, it is not surprising that Isambard sought a reference for a gardener from Nesfield. Geoffrey's research illuminates Brunel's keen surveying eye and dogged determination as he sought to re-route the Shaldon to Torquay turnpike around his planned Watcombe estate after he had bought adjoining packets of land in the parishes of Stokenteignhead, St Marychurch and Kingkerswell.

The `Watcombe Garden Book', the central piece of Geoffrey's research, has Brunel's stamp of project management about it, with a continuing appraisal of his estate design. It also shows that the family travelled frequently to their second home in Watcombe Villa despite Isambard's preoccupation with the Great Exhibition and his plans for building the Great Eastern. Forsyth, their gardener, probably planted the first trees at Watcombe in 1849, and Brunel's plans for water distribution to support further planting about the estate were completed in 1851. The Garden Book suggests the Brunels were in residence during 1853 when Mary was busy in the local community and Isambard was engaged with the erection of his bridge over the River Tamar. Mary undoubtedly had a major influence on the landscape design of the estate and, one might infer, on the Brunel's acceptance of the design for their house by William Burns.

1856 was the start of a turbulent period in the building of the Great Eastern for Brunel, but he still had time to involve himself in St Mary Church parish affairs. His relationship with John Scott Russell had broken down to the extent that he took personal charge of building the ship until it was ready to be launched at the end of 1857. The final datable records in the Garden Book suggest that Brunel continued with his planting plans until the end of 1858, but when he was diagnosed with Bright's disease, his oversight of the Watcombe project was brought to an untimely end. He died in September 1859.

Much in this book corroborates other evidence for Brunel's high work ethic, but it also hints at a richer picture of the Brunel family. Little has been written about Mary Brunel, and the book suggests that she must have been a talented gardener in her own right, an extraordinary support to her husband, and a devout Christian. Whilst the parallel timelines of the Watcombe venture and Brunel's engineering achievements usefully provide a better understanding of the family, they pose more questions about Mary's role in their Devon adventure, both before and after Isambard's death. There is also a suggestion that she helped her friend, Catherine Froude, to lay out her gardens at Chelston Cross in Torbay.

The book contains many photographs taken after 1860 that complement Geoffrey Tudor's carefully referenced text. Helen Hillard's compilation makes a useful contribution to the Brunel story and recognises the support that the National Lottery Funding allowed for the restoration of Brunel Manor, 12 acres of the original Watcombe Estate. The book is a must-read for visitors to Torbay and might encourage some to donate to the continuing regeneration of Brunel's hidden kingdom at Watcombe.