Pencorse Manor

Pencorse Manor

Farmhouse, now house. Probably late 16th to early 17th century; remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the left end removed and replaced circa early to mid 19th century. Some 20th-century alterations. Built of granite rubble with some granite ashlar and granite dressings. The front slope of the roof is in scantle slate, the rest slate; the roof is hipped, with an end stack to the right with rubble shaft and shaped top.

The building is L-shaped in plan, comprising a 3-room front range with a rear wing of one-room plan to the right. The room to the right is all that remains of a formerly larger house. This room was originally heated from a stack at the right end and appears to have had a passage at the left end, probably divided by a screen partition. Around the early 18th century, a stair was inserted to the rear right of this room, and the left end was rebuilt. A rear wing of one-room plan was added to the rear right. In the early to mid 19th century, an addition was made at the left end, comprising a 2-room plan with one room to front and one to rear, and a staircase at the inner side, which formed a garden front at the left side.

The front elevation is 2-storey and asymmetrical, with the bays of the earlier building slightly advanced to the right in granite ashlar. In the bays to the right is a 19th-century round-arched 2-light casement with hood mould remaining above from a formerly larger window aperture. An ovolo-moulded granite jamb remains; the 19th-century window is deeper than the original 17th-century window. A single light remains of a chamfered granite window to the left, with ovolo-moulded surround and truncated hood mould. At first floor is a 20th-century 12-pane sash. To the left is a studded plank door with cambered arch and dripstone, set in a moulded wooden frame; this may be in the position of the original entrance to the passage, but is probably re-set. There are 4 bays to the left, with four 12-pane sashes at first floor; the ground floor has a large 12-pane sash and a 3-light granite mullioned window, rebuilt circa 19th century with hood mould. All sashes are 19th-century. The right end has a 19th-century mullion and transom window lighting the stair. A 20th-century single light is at first floor to the left. A single-storey and loft lean-to of 19th-century date is to the right, with a 6-panelled door and 20th-century windows. The rear wing to the right has a stack with brick shaft.

The left side is a 2-storey symmetrical 3-window front; all windows are 12-pane sashes with cambered arches, of early 19th-century date, with a central 20th-century glazed door with cambered arch.

At the rear, the main range is set on a cellar. The first floor has one single casement and two 2-light casements, of 19th-century date; the ground floor has two 2-light casements. To the right is a 10-pane light to the stair in the early 19th-century range, with a glazed 20th-century door to the left. There is a straight joint to the left, with the upper level of the wall in rendered cob, containing a 19th-century 2-light casement at ground and first floor.

Interior features include the early 19th-century range to the left, where the partition wall between the two rooms has been removed, along with the staircase—a tight open-well with stick balusters and wreathed handrail. In the early range to the right, the staircase to the rear right is a dog-leg of circa early 18th-century date, with turned balusters, moulded handrail, and ramped dado panelling. The window over this staircase retains a wooden lintel with scroll stops. At first floor, the main range has been divided with a central corridor running from right to left, and rooms to front and rear; one of the rear rooms retains an early 18th-century 2-panelled door.

At ground floor in the main room to the right is a fireplace at the right end, reconstructed of 17th-century granite moulded fragments. This room also retains chamfered and scroll-stopped beams. In the roof over the front right range are 2 early trusses with roughly hewn principal rafters and cambered collars dovetailed and pegged to the principals. One later 17th-century truss partly survives, with collar halved and pegged to the principals.