THE HISTORY OF CAMELOT CASTLE
In 1894, A Company was formed by Sir Robert Harvey an Entrepreneur, who made his fortune in South American mining, to build Camelot Castle. Designed by Silvanus Trevail, a leading Victorian architect of the day, the castle was completed and opened at Easter 1899, taking five years to complete. From the day of its opening, Camelot Castle was one of the most sought after destinations and places to stay in the Victorian and Edwardian world, with stars and luminaries of the age spending weeks at a time often bringing their staff and friends for the summer and in the winter for Christmas. Films such as ‘Knights of the Round Table’ starring Ava Gardner, ‘Dracula’, starring Sir Laurence Olivier and many others have been filmed here. One Hundred years after its construction in February 1999 while visiting Tintagel Island as part of his research into the true source of creativity, John Mappin, of the Mappin and Webb, Diamond, Jewelry and Silver dynasty and Crown Jewelers, acquired Camelot Castle and the adjoining lands and estates as a private residence for his family. Camelot Castle was at that time in 1999 acquired with the specific purpose of being a family home. It was several months later, having observed firsthand how much others enjoyed the location and how their friend, Artist Ted Stourton’s creativity had blossomed, as a result of discoveries made by the family in relation to a person’s creativity, that John and Irina Mappin decided that rather than run Camelot Castle as a private home, they would share it with others, so others too could enjoy their home and experience the beauty and atmosphere of this unique treasure. It was clear that the inspirational potentials of Camelot Castle for others was totally unique. To help with this growth they loaned some of their personal family household staff to help in the additional administration and care of additional guests. Today, nearly fifteen years later, while it is still the family home, hundreds of people have had the opportunity to stay at Camelot Castle and several more rooms have been made available for guests. Recently, due to the popularity of Ted Stourton’s art and how the market is staring to view it the family has embarked on a full historic restoration of Camelot Castle and the surrounding Estates. This saw the opening of the Golden Age Bar and The Explorers Tea Room which welcomed to Camelot Castle even more guests. The full restoration of the Camelot Castle Private Family Drawing Room - The Infinity Salon or Blue Room, as it has come to be called, is a spectacular and award winning example of Victorian and Edwardian historic restoration and has set the standard to which every part and room of Camelot Castle and its estate will be restored by the family. Over the coming months and years guests will see a total and detailed restoration of every part of this Castle - this is made possible, in part, by Collectors of Ted Stourton’s art who themselves through their patronage become part of this great purpose. Camelot Castle is still today managed by the family’s private household staff and they do a wonderful job looking after our guests. Indeed they cannot be praised enough for maintaining the standards and atmosphere of a private home with extraordinary attention to detail, while at the same time welcoming guests from all over the world. One of the great purposes of creativity is to share beauty with the world and it is our hope that you have as much pleasure visiting our home as we have had in sharing it and that you find here inspiration in relation to beauty and creativity, that is truly here for all to experience. You can read much more about what is happening here in our Camelot Castle Newspaper which is free to every guest. A very warm welcome to our home.
