It’s a while since the last time I visited Heligan and there have been a couple of changes. I’d seen the bothy ‘Thunderbox’ and its pencil inscription in the past. However, there are now plaques outside and inside marking the designation in 2013 by the Imperial War Museum of the Thunderbox as a ‘Living Memorial to the Gardeners of Heligan House’.
As the additional description says, the pencil is somewhat faded, now, but some is still legible, starting with the famous, “Don’t come here to sleep or slumber” line, and some of the names are also still visible.
For those who may not know what a ‘Thunderbox’ is, here is one of the two at Heligan. You can derive what function they served and how it operated for yourself . . .