Businessman and evangelist Henry Reed acquired farmland on the edge of Tunbridge Wells in the 1850s and built a new mansion, Dunorlan, in a grand Italianate style.

In the 1850s and 60s Marnock laid out the grounds, designing the sloping site to make the most of its many views. He added terraces and steps, new lawns, shrubberies and exotic trees, including an alternating avenue of deodars (Cedrus deodora) and Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga). Sweeping new parkland led down to a reconfigured 6-acre lake and cascade. James Pulham worked alongside Marnock, adding his distinctive rockwork in an unusual garden temple and fountain (sited at either end of Marnock’s avenue) as well as a footbridge, rockeries and lake edges.

The grounds are now a public park and the Friends of Dunorlan Park have arranged a Marnock-themed walk, to be led by Dr Ian Beavis, Research Curator of the Amelia Scott Arts Centre in Tunbridge Wells.

All welcome. No need to book. Just turn up at the café in the park at 10.30am.

View in the grounds at Dunorlan. Gardeners Chronicle v.16 (1881). Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by UMass Amherst Libraries.