Tregantallan Farmhouse Including Garden Wall Immediately To South

Tregantallan Farmhouse, including garden wall immediately to south

A farmhouse dating from the 18th century, extended and altered in minor ways during the 19th century, with a small 20th-century extension at the rear. The building is constructed of limewashed granite rubble with a slurried scantle slate roof with gable ends. Dressed granite stacks stand at each gable end, topped with stone caps; the right-hand stack was heightened in brick at a later date.

The house follows a double-depth plan with two principal front rooms: the kitchen to the left and the parlour to the right, both heated by fireplaces in the gable ends. Originally there may have been a cross-passage between these rooms, but the current central entrance gives direct access into the kitchen, with a short section of partition remaining on the left side of the front doorway. Behind these rooms lies a shallow unheated dairy to the right, a dog-leg staircase partitioned into a stairwell left of centre, and what was originally a pantry to the left at the back. This pantry was converted into a lobby when a large single-storey kitchen outshut was added at the left end in the 19th century; this outshut features a fireplace on its back wall and a side doorway. A front porch, probably added in the 19th century, stands to the left of centre. Apart from a small 20th-century single-storey bathroom extension at the back of the left-hand end, the house has remained virtually unaltered since the 19th century.

The exterior presents an almost symmetrical two-storey, two-window range. Window openings are small, fitted with late 19th-century six-pane sashes with slate cills. The enclosed porch, slightly left of centre, is built of limewashed stone rubble with a slurried scantle slate lean-to roof and features 19th-century panelled double doors; the inner doorway contains a wide late 18th-century six-panel door with glazed top panels. The lean-to outshut at the left end has a late 19th-century four-pane sash to the front and a 20th-century plank door at the side. The rear elevation shows a horizontally sliding sash to the stairs right of centre and a ground-floor casement to the left, partially obscured by zinc gauze. A small 20th-century rendered flat-roof single-storey extension stands to the right.

A 19th-century low stone rubble garden wall encloses a small front garden from the farmyard, roughly semi-circular on plan, with small granite monolithic gate-piers at the centre in front of the porch.

The interior is remarkably unaltered. Ground-floor rooms display exposed joists with ovolo edge moulding. The parlour to the right contains a small china cupboard beside the fireplace, featuring a moulded round head with a reeded keyblock; the fireplace is fitted with a 20th-century grate. The kitchen to the left retains a short section of plank partition inside the front doorway, probably all that remains of the original cross-passage partition. The kitchen fireplace is blocked by a 20th-century range. The dairy features granite slab shelves. The stairwell is lined with plank partitions with moulded muntins and contains a wide dog-leg staircase with a closed string, thick square balusters, moulded handrail, and square newels with simple caps. Various simple two-panel and plank doors are scattered throughout. First-floor rooms have plastered ceilings with concealed roof structure. The out-kitchen in the outshut at the left end has a large fireplace at its back.

Historically, Tregontallan formed part of the manor of Tucoys. It was granted to the hospital of St John of Helston, and at the dissolution of the hospital, its lands, including Tregontallan, passed to the crown. The property eventually passed to the Godolphins and became the property of the Dukes of Leeds. In 1842, the farm comprised 106 acres.