Godolphin Count House

Godolphin Count House

An account house (count house) for Godolphin mines, dating from approximately the first half of the 19th century with alterations made in the late 19th century and some work undertaken in the 20th century. The building is constructed of killas rubble with dressed granite jambstones and lintels, beneath a scantle slate roof with brick chimneys positioned over the gable ends.

The plan follows a double-depth arrangement with two equal reception rooms flanking a cross passage that leads to a central stair, positioned between the kitchen to the rear left and what was possibly a pantry to the rear right. A full-size basement runs beneath the building, originally intended for stabling pit ponies. The first floor was probably originally a single large room at the front, used as an office or board room. A trap house adjoins the right-hand gable end towards the rear, with its ground floor at basement level and a 20th-century storage floor above. A full-depth single-storey lean-to washhouse, mostly of 20th-century date, adjoins the left-hand gable end at ground floor level.

The building stands two storeys over the basement. The front elevation, facing roughly south, is symmetrical with three windows and a central doorway containing an original eight-panel door with flush-beaded bottom panels. In the later 19th century the front was altered by heightening the sill level, introducing granite lintels, and narrowing all but the central window, which was narrower originally. The windows are circa 1860s twelve-pane sashes with horned upper sashes and hornless lower sashes. A circa 1930 copy Doric porch, designed by S.E. Schofield, stands at the entrance. The rear elevation is virtually unaltered since construction and is also symmetrical, featuring a taller round-headed fanlight sash five panes wide, flanked by ground and first-floor sixteen-pane hornless sashes with smaller basement openings below.

The interior retains 19th-century carpentry and joinery, including the original dog-leg stair with stick balusters. Semi-circular niches are present in each bedroom. The large kitchen fireplace features a flat arch granite lintel over three centres.

In front of the house stands a 20th-century terrace with a battered rubble retaining wall, approached by a flight of granite steps aligned with the front door.

This is a virtually complete 19th-century count house associated with the Godolphin estate and its related mines.