Lyveden is a poignant and dramatic example of one man standing up for his beliefs in dangerous times, through an act of quiet and creative rebellion.
Tresham's story is one of a private, yet public, expression of his own vision of identiry, belief and commitment, and how one man showed resistance in the face of persecution. His experience demonstrates how one man showed resistance in the face of persecution. As a Catholic in Protestant England, Tresham found his loyalty and status as a member of the English gentry called into question. The hardening of Elizabeth’s stance towards religious conformity in the 1580s as the threat of Catholic invasion increased at home and abroad imposed legal restrictions on the practise of Catholicism in England. In the 1580s, Tresham made the decision to assert his faith and religious identity and, as a result, found himself subject to legal questioning, imprisonment and heavy fines.
During his time under house arrest, and imprisonment, Thomas Tresham came up with the designs for Lyveden; a journey of discovery and a contemplative walk from his manor house hidden at the bottom of the hill up through an elaborately designed water garden to the garden lodge above.
