It is somewhat rare for an attraction that serves as a weaver of fantasy to provide a practical example of how to effectively repair a conservatory, but in the grounds of one of Britain’s most famed theme parks is one of the most important buildings in British botanical history.

Part of that is the historic importance of the Grand Garden Conservatory found in the gardens of Alton Towers. Not only is it amongst the first conservatories constructed in the UK and amongst the oldest surviving examples, but it also has left a lasting legacy on the nation’s culinary habits.

Following a £1m restoration project, Alton Towers revealed that the Grade II* listed conservatory was potentially home to one of the world’s most popular bananas and cultivated by one of the most important figures in the history of conservatory building.

Alton And Chatsworth Bananas

The Cavendish banana is the variety of banana that people are most familiar with, but its origin and success can be traced to two pioneering and influential British conservatories.

The name comes from the name of the Sixth Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, who, alongside famed gardener Sir Joseph Paxton, was critical in the construction of the Great Conservatory at Chatsworth House, itself the inspiration for the Palm House at Kew Gardens and Crystal Palace.

However, the bananas themselves were not initially grown at the famous lost Derbyshire conservatory, but started to be cultivated in the UK at least six years before it was even made.

Starting in the 1820s, the Great Garden Conservatory alongside two similar buildings on the Alton Towers grounds was originally intended to house oranges, other citrus fruits, kiwi fruits and palm trees, but in 1834, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury managed to grow bananas originally from Mauritius within them.

This in itself was something of a miracle as the Alton Towers conservatories were designed with aesthetics rather than function in mind, with ornate pineapple-shaped finials topping the unusually shaped glass domes. 

Whilst they were somewhat draughty according to contemporary accounts, focusing on aesthetics and leisure when making a conservatory rather than the ability to cultivate exotic plants was somewhat ahead of its time.

When a few bunches of bananas were sent to Chatsworth House, Sir Joseph Paxton first used a number of greenhouses and then the Great Conservatory to cultivate them.

Decay, Revival And Inverted Legacies

One unusual aspect of the Great Garden Conservatories is that when Chatsworth House and the Cavendish banana were thriving, Alton Towers began to struggle.

Chatsworth House remained remarkably resilient despite death duties, failed business ventures and the slow decay of the English Country House tradition, but the First World War ultimately wiped out all of the exotic plants due to the sheer amount of coal required to maintain the exotic conditions, and it was demolished in 1920.

The Cavendish banana was popular as an exotic plant, but it was not until 1903 that it was sold in significant amounts due to the extermination of the previously popular Gros Michel variety of banana due to Panama disease.

It was believed that the Cavendish banana was immune or at least resistant to the fungal infection, although a rise in cases of infection has put the world’s favourite banana and one of the world’s favourite fruits at significant risk of rapid widespread elimination.

In 1896, by contrast, the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury separated from his wife and the Countess of Shrewsbury, Ellen Chetwynd-Talbot, which led to the gradual decay of the house and grounds due to the unwillingness of the Earl to pay for renovations for a house that his ex-wife was staying in.

In 1918, the Earl sold off his estate via auction, but whilst this initially seemed to be an indication of another potentially lost historic country dwelling that would later become a Grade I listed building, by 1924, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

A local consortium that bought the estate opened it as a tourist attraction, and it became surprisingly popular during the interwar period. 

In the 1950s, a theme park began to be developed on the grounds, which has since become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK once the former stately home transitioned completely into a theme park during the 1980s.

However, for much of that history, one of the most neglected areas of the park was the conservatories, which fell into a state of tragically beautiful decay, which infamously included a palm tree growing through the roof.

This changed dramatically in 2017, when a £1m refurbishment project revitalised the conservatory amid other major refurbishments to the historic grounds.

This refurbishment, which focused on preserving and future-proofing the historic details of the old conservatory, has become a case study in how to preserve and renovate a conservatory even after decades of decay.