Remembering Jonathan Jukes

The Trustees were very sad to learn that Jonathan Jukes who worked at Markshall from 1985 until 2018 has died, after a short illness, on the 14^th May this year. Many visitors, staff and neighbours to the estate will remember Jonathan, who was very much the public face of the arboretum project for so many years. Jonathan leaves a wife Frances, son Thomas and two stepchildren Becky and Eddie.

Richard Tattersall, past agent at Markshall has kindly written the following tribute to Jonathan.

Markshall looked very different in the early 1980s when Jonathan first came to work on the estate. Having been derelict and unkept for so long, the grounds around the site of the mansion, lakes and walled garden were simply being maintained, and modestly enhanced, by the Trust with the help of one part-time groundsman.

As the site was gradually tidied up, the Trustees were ambitious to expand this area and begin new planting on an altogether grander scale, and the first thoughts of a ‘formal’ collection of trees and shrubs were discussed.

The first step was to recruit someone with suitable horticultural training, who would work full time on such a project and Jonathan who had recently qualified from Writtle Agricultural College with an HND in Horticulture, Landscape and Recreation, was thus recruited in 1985, coming to work at Markshall at the age of 24.

There were always far more ideas than there was time or money to carry them out, although a series of priorities was established, and Jonathan was soon part of the team helping decide what was and was not possible. And in this way, he gradually became an essential part of the evolving plans being put together by the Trustees, and in taking forward their concepts for the fledging arboretum.

The hurricane of 16^th October 1987 was to accelerate this work, as it created spaces within the conifer plantations that bordered the grounds, and these were added to the area designated for the arboretum.

The best known of these is the memorial site, a one tenth scale replica of the runway layout of the adjacent Earls Colne Airfield constructed for and operational during WW II. This project with its memorial obelisk and landscaping was very much Jonathan’s idea. The site has hosted an annual memorial service every year since and dedicated to all who served at Earls Colne, and especially those who took part in Operation Varsity on 24^th March 1945.

As time moved on a formal landscape masterplan for the arboretum and outlying areas was drawn up by Michael and Beverly Lear and formed the basis of many years work for Jonathan and his team. Much activity was also focused on getting the estate ready to welcome the public once the visitor centre had been constructed. This necessitated more landscaping, further plantings, and refurbishing the ornamental lakes.

Removing silt from the lakes yielded many surprises and although nothing of great value was found, nor the quantities of military hardware legend says that the USAAF had dumped there, several hand grenades were uncovered. Arranging for the bomb disposal squad from Colchester garrison to come and make these safe, which they did by detonating them alongside an even larger explosive charge, added an element of frisson to life at Markshall. That the occasional phosphorus flare, lying dormant for 50 years deep in the lake silt, would burst spontaneously into a shower of brilliant pyrotechnics when exposed to fresh air, added greatly to a spirit of risk and adventure which infused the whole team.

By the time the visitor centre opened in 1993 Jonathan had become a familiar figure about the estate, out working with his team, or talking to some of the many visitors who had by now become a regular part of day to day life on the estate. His blue Landrover, was as familiar as him, rarely without a black labrador by his side, criss-crossing the estate from one project to another, as the scope of his work came to include the outlying woodlands and new pastureland surrounding the visitor centre.

By the mid-1990s the original gardener’s cottage, adjacent to the walled garden, became available and after its renovation Jonathan, by then promoted to Curator, moved in becoming the first employee to live at Markshall.

He really was at his most contented out and about on the estate and he would lead walking tours, into the coppice woods, in the very early hours of a mid-summer’s morning, to greet the dawn chorus, and on the off chance, of hearing a nightingale sing.

The discovery of the hitherto unknown Wollemi Pine in Australia in 1994 led to great interest in such a newly discovered tree and many were planted across the temperate world as a result. In the arboretum Jonathan led the initiative to plant not just one but a veritable plantation of some 70 – 80 pines creating one of the largest known collections. These unique trees are growing well and will reward the visitor with their remarkable style and foliage.

One of Jonathan’s major tasks, and a flagship for the estate, was the restoration and landscaping of the walled garden. The scheme, led by the renowned landscape designer Brita von Schoenaich, involved establishing a wide variety of plants within a short timeframe. This was very ably executed by Jonathan and his team and, since its opening in 2003, has over the years become a great favourite with visitors.

This whole undertaking – the development and establishment of an arboretum on such a scale – would be a daunting prospect for anyone, yet it was one that Jonathan relished and in which he played his part for over 30 years.

In 2017, the year before he left Markshall, Jonathan was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Writtle University College in recognition of his work on the estate.

This was well deserved as over the years he had developed an ever deeper understanding, not just the arboretum, but the wider estate and its rich and varied landscape and wildlife. So, by the time he left Markshall in 2018 he was not only an experienced horticulturalist, but a most able and knowledgeable countryman.

Jonathan was strong willed and at times had an individualistic approach, often preferring to tread his own path. But with his head and his heart he was committed to Markshall and his part in fulfilling the vision developed so long ago by the original owner.

Richard Tattersall

Past agent Markshall Estate.

23.08.2024