30th April- 8th May 2022:  Bluebell Festival and Art Exhibition.

Enys is situated a few miles to the East of Penryn in Cornwall. Its beautiful gardens and woodlands are a haven of tranquility. Its ancient buildings have been largely abandoned since the mid-20th century, but are gradually awakening from their long slumber.

Enys is an ancient Celtic word meaning a circle, and island or a clearing in the forest, so it is possible that the first owners took their name from the land.

The Enys Estate probably first became the home of the Enys family during the life of Robert de Enys. According to a pedigree produced for Samuel Enys (1611-1667) from family deeds, Robert de Enys “began to reign in 1272”. Robert’s granddaughter, Joane, released her rights to land at Enys to her brother, John de Enys (1390), and his heirs in 1363, during the reign of Edward III. This deed is still in the Cornwall Record Office. Enys is also mentioned in a Cornish play taken to Oxford in 1450, when it was among lands given as a reward to the builder of the universe (the manuscript is in the Bodleian Library). The gardens at Enys were noted as one of the earliest in Cornwall and ranked among its greatest, attracting the attention of historians who recognised its progression through the centuries.

Today the Estate consists of just under 1,000 acres of farmland and woodland (165 acres) covering the core area, and some outlying areas. At one time the Enys family owned lands in Camborne, St Agnes and Gerrans and Portscatho, but today the holding of land is much reduced. As well as farm houses, the estate owns a few cottages which would have been let to farm and Estate workers.