History Facts

The National Trust was founded by the vision of three pioneers on 12 January 1895, Octavia Hill, the housing reformer, Sir Robert Hunter, a solicitor of the Commons Preservation Society and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a Lake District clergyman.

It was borne out of a vested interest in promoting the “permanent preservation for the benefit of the Nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historical interest”. Over the past 120 years, the National Trust has grown into the UK’s largest charity, caring for historic properties and areas of beautiful countryside.

Hunter and Hill had thought of their idea ten years previously, whilst they were both still working in London dealing with leading social reformers.

Add to that the enthusiasm of the artist John Ruskin, who was a pioneering conservationist, and from his writings he foresaw the ‘green-house effect’ over a century ago. Ruskin inspired the establishment of The National Trust, and the founders of the National Parks movement.

The first piece of land that was donated to the National Trust was Dinas Oleu by Mrs Fanny Talbot in 1895. This stunning gorse-covered hill, known as Dinas Oleu (Citadel of Light) gives you dramatic views over the Mawddach Estuary and Cardigan Bay – stretching towards the Llyn Peninsula.

The first property that the National Trust purchased in 1896 for £10 was this 650 year old church house, known as Alfriston Clergy House. The house was built back in 1350 during medieval times under the reign of Edward III. It is a rare example of a surviving Wealden timber framed hall house.

In 1931 the National Trust of Scotland is established.

In 1945, on the National Trusts 50th year, it is recorded they have purchased or been donated a massive 112,000 acres of land and 93 historic buildings and have 7,850 members.

Then in 1946 The National Land Fund is established by Dr Hugh Dalton, who was the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time. This was set up as a memorial to those killed in the Second World War and this enabled the trust to get many great country houses with the assistance of the Fund.

In 1965 the launch of Enterprise Neptune was established with the aim of acquiring unspoilt coastline which might otherwise be at risk. To celebrate the 50th year of the Neptune campaign in 2015, the National Trust now look after over 775 miles of coastline around the UK.

In 1975, the National Trust reach an amazing 500,000 members, followed in 1981 by 1 million members and 2 million members in 1990. In 2007 there are around 3.5 million members of the National Trust, with the latest number of members counted in 2011 at 4 million. Plus, there are around 50,000 volunteers working for the Trust, donating what Octavia Hill called gifts of time.

In 1995 to celebrate 100 years, a service was held in St Paul’s Cathedral. Over the first 100 years the National Trust have become the guardians of 580,000 acres of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 545 miles of coastline, 230 historic houses and 130 important gardens.

By becoming a member of the National Trust, you get FREE access to over 500 Trust venues across the UK, including free parking and other member benefits. Membership starts at just £69 per year for an individual.

King Henry VIII of England was King from 1509 until his death and was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

He is best known for having six wives, in particular his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon and his efforts to have the marriage annulled.

In 1509, Henry VIII became King after his older brother Arthur died.  He married Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon.  She suffered many miscarriages and two sons only lived for a short period of days after their birth.  However, Catherine did have a baby daughter, named Mary born in February 1516.

However in 1536, King Henry VIII wanted to divorce Catherine and so he changed the rules of the catholic church and granted himself a divorce.

King Henry’s 2nd wife was Anne Boleyn and they married on 25th January 1533.  She was already pregnant when they married and on the 26th August 1533 their daughter Princess Elizabeth.  Unfortunately, Anne also suffered a few miscarriages and a son who only lived for a few days after his birth.

It was important that King Henry VIII receive a male heir to the throne, but Anne was unable to give him one.  Many of the Queen’s enemies at the court plotted against her, accusing her of adultery, incest and treason to plot to kill the king.  Although all the charges were false, Anne was found guilty and on 19th May 1536 was beheaded at the Tower of London.

Henry VIII married his new love Jane Seymour on 30th May 1536. On 15th October 1537, Jane gave birth to a baby son, and they named him Edward.  After Edward’s christening, Jane became very ill and died on the 24th October, just two weeks after giving birth.

King Henry had already prepared his own tomb at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle and this is where Jane Seymour was buried – she is the only wife of Henry’s six wives to be buried with him.

He married his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves on 6th January 1540 and this was a marriage of alliance between France and England.  But this marriage was quickly dissolved and incurred no argument from Anne of Cleves.

King Henry VIII 5th wife was Kathryn Howard, and they were married on 28th July 1540.  He was 49 yrs old to her 19 years.  Within a year of their wedding, rumours started about Kathryn Howard’s infidelity, she even employed one as her personal secretary.

In November 1541, Archbishop Cranmer informed the King of Kathryn’s behaviour and with plenty of evidence to prove that she had indeed been promiscuous before and after her marriage to the King, he had Kathryn Howard executed at the Tower of London on the 13th February 1542.

Kathryn Howard is buried near to her cousin Anne Boleyn in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.

King Henry’s 6th wife was Katherine Parr, and they married on the 12th July 1543.

She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green, both of whom worked at the Kings court during his ear reign.

Katherine Parr was married to Edward Borough in 1529 before he died in 1533. Then she went on to marry John Neville in 1534.  He died in March 1543, leaving Katherine a widow once more.

Around this time Thomas Seymour (Jane Seymour’s brother) had expressed a desire to marry Katherine, but the King’s proposal also came at this time, and Katherine felt it was her duty to accept.

Henry VIII died in January 1547.

Katherine was not involved in any role in the upbringing of the new King, Edward VI (her stepson) and moved to Sudeley Castle.  She secretly married Thomas Seymour.

Katherine gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Mary, on 30th August 1548 (her first child).  She became ill after giving birth and died from a puerperal fever on 5th September. She is buried in the chapel at Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds.

The first ever Royal Chelsea Flower show was held in the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital in 1913. The only time the flower show has not gone ahead was during the two World Wars.

The flower show contains both nursery exhibits and model gardens and there are three firms that were part of the first exhibit that still continue to this day and they are McBean’s Orchids, Blackmore & Langdon and Kelways Plants.

The Chelsea Flower show is organised by the Royal Horticulture Society which was founded in 1804.

With previous Great Spring Shows being held in the now vanished Royal garden in Kensington in 1862 and in Temple Gardens between 1888 and 1911, finally settling in its current site at Chelsea Hospital since 1913.

In 1912 a Royal Internation Horticultural Exhibition was held at Chelsea hospital and was such a success that they decided to hold further horticultural shows there ever since.

There was a Great Marquee erected in 1951, and was consequently named the world’s largest tent (at 3½ acres) in the Guinness Book of Records.

When the Marquee was taken down and replaced by the modular structure in 2000 the old tent was cut up and used to make 7000 bags, aprons, and jackets.

The Great Pavilion is about 11,775 square metres or 2.90 acres.

In 1937, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their Coronation Year. An amazing Empire Exhibition was staged and featured wattles from Australia, pines from Canada, brilliant gladioli from East Africa and even a big prickly pear from Palestine.

Although flower arranging exhibits did not exist until 1948 in the show, they have increased so dramatically over the years that in 1956 they had to put up a separate tent just for them to be displayed.

There is also a rule at the Chelsea Flower Show that it is forbidden to use any coloured sculptures, so garden gnomes etc are not allowed, but Jekka McVicar who is a regular exhibitor would always try to smuggle in a gnome to place on her exhibit.

The popularity of the Royal Chelsea Flower Show has grown over the the years so much that in 1988 they had to put a cap of 157,000 tickets sold.

There are over 500 exhibitors from around the world that come to exhibit at the Show Gardens, Artisan Gardens and Fresh Gardens.

With approximately over 100 exhibits are set up in the Great Pavilion, which are from nurseries and florists, with around 270 trade stands.

The Chelsea Flower Show really is an amazing floral spectacle and any plant lover looks forward to the annual event with great excitement.

The Dom Tower in Utrecht is the highest and oldest church tower in Holland.

It was built between 1321 and 1342, it took so long to build due to a lack of money.

Dom Tower reaches a height of 112 meters and inside the Tower are fourteen bells that weigh between 880 and 18,000 pounds.

Halfway up the Dom Tower there are fourteen bells. Six were founded by Geert van Wou in 1505 and can still be heard today.

Some of the larger bells are named after saints and religious figures.

The Dom Tower was originally designed as a steeple which was attached to St Martin’s cathedral.

After what is believed to be a tornado in 1674 ripped through the city of Utrecht, the nave of the church was knocked down and remained that way for some time as the people of Utrecht did not have the money to rebuild the cathedral.

The Dom Tower was largely unharmed by the storm still remains free standing today and a beautiful paved area between the cathedral and tower exists which is known as Dom Square.

The Dom Tower is open to the public and if you are willing to climb the 465 spiral stairway to the roof, you will be provided with excellent views of Utrecht and it’s surrounding area, on a clear day you can see Amsterdam.

In the Netherlands, the tower is called the “Dom Toren”.

In Medieval England, September was always known as the Harvest month, and as the many farmers would gather in the last of their crops, trying to prove that they had reaped the best crops they would try and beat their neighbouring farmers to complete the work first.

There was a fun ceremony known as “Calling the Mare” and this involved quickly gathering the last sheaf of the harvest and shaping it into a mare shape, then delivering it to the neighbouring farmers land, shouting “Mare, Mare”.

This was supposed to signify that wild horses would come and eat their harvest if they didn’t gather it in quickly.

Once the receiving farmer had finished gathering his crop, he would pass it onto the next farmer who had not finished until it reached the last farmer.

This last farmer would then have to keep the “Mare” on display for a year to show that he was the slowest farmer.

Similarly, corn dolls were also weaved into shapes and placed in the corn fields as farmers believed that these corn dolls were the spirit of the corn goddess.

It was believed that if you did not place a corn doll in your fields the corn goddess would die and so would your crops.

So now you know what the term “Calling the Mare” means and that it comes from an old farming tradition.