Cow House And Attached Wall And Trough South Of Castle

This is an early 19th-century cow house with an attached wall and trough, located south of Castle in Lostwithiel. The building is constructed of slatestone rubble with granite and brick dressings, and has slate roofs. It has a rectangular plan, being longer than it is wide, and originally comprised three bays at the front leading to a two-bay interior. The left bay is double-width and has a cart entry and a rear entrance. The right side was originally open, divided by granite piers. There is a false front wall with pigeonholes, and a loft above the cowhouse.

The front wall is divided into three bays, featuring a central elliptical cart entrance, narrow round-arched entrances on either side, all with granite surrounds and dressed granite quoins and voussoirs. A string course and parapet run along the top of the front wall, incorporating three rows of brick pigeonholes, with the parapet raised to form two shallow gables, each with a pigeonhole at the apex. The left side has four ground-floor ventilation slits. Attached to the left is a single-storey lean-to with a corrugated iron roof. A low rubble wall, about one metre high, sweeps around to enclose a semicircular area, extending north for approximately 18 metres and featuring a slate water trough. The right side includes a lean-to roof over the lower-level narrow bay, which is divided into six bays by roughly hewn granite piers with wooden doors. The rear gable end of the wide bay contains two doors and an upper loading door.

The interior is divided into two bays by a three-bay arcade with basket arches in brick, supported by rectangular granite piers. The stonework of the piers is interlaced with slatestone, and they have impost mouldings. The original purpose of the building is not entirely clear, but it is notable for its architectural treatment and appears to have remained unaltered.