Trewoofe, Including Garden Walls To The East

Farmhouse at Trewoofe, including garden walls to the rear (east), in the parish of St Buryan.

This is a complex medieval and later structure. The present building is the part formerly known as the "Porch House". It was probably joined to a larger house built at right angles in front to the right, which is now a ruin with mostly foundations only. Its plan was drawn by Treffry Hoblyn in 1935, showing what appears to be a similar house with an overall E-shaped plan plus extension. The left-hand (west) house had the resited doorway positioned in its south wall. Before these drawings were made, the house had become ruinous and the doorway was moved to Ayr Manor, St Ives. Recently (1987) the doorway was re-erected in the rear doorway of the present house.

The earliest element is a resited doorway dating from around 1490, belonging to the formerly larger medieval house. This doorway carries the arms of the Trewoofe and Levelis families. It is a remarkable round-arched moulded doorway with integral carved pilasters carrying in carved panels the arms of the Trewoofe family (left) and Levelis family (right). Joan Trewoofe (only surviving child) married Thomas Levelis of Castle Horneck around 1490 and the doorway was probably built for them. The simple carving of the pilasters appears to be symbolic of fertility. Possibly parts of the walls at the left-hand (north) side of the house are late medieval. Otherwise the building was remodelled in the 17th century, then circa 1760 and again circa early 19th century.

The present house has a puzzling plan. The walls to the left (north) of the central through passage are thicker than those to the right (on lower ground). The house is 2 rooms wide and 2 rooms deep with very thick walls or 17th-century features at the back. There are two possible explanations: either the 17th-century house had shallow rear rooms and the fireplace in the right-hand room was remodelled in the 17th century leaving its right-hand jamb in situ and reusing its lintel; or the house was L-shaped in the 17th century and the front right-hand room is an 18th-century infilling of the angle. The right-hand wall of the rear outshut projects to the right and there is a short projecting wall which probably originally joined with the now ruined remains. It is possible that in the Middle Ages there were buildings ranged around a courtyard and that Trewoofe Farmhouse is a 17th-century rebuilding on the north side of that courtyard.

The structure is built in granite rubble with granite dressings. The roof is wet-laid scantle slate, sweeping lower at the rear (entrance front). Dressed granite stacks are positioned over the gable ends, with the left-hand stack being external.

The exterior presents 2 storeys with a nearly symmetrical 3-window west front and central doorway. There are 2 tiers of pigeon holes under heightened eaves. The present front appears to be contemporary with late 18th-century or early 19th-century 16-pane hornless sashes with original crown glass. The doorway is a remodelled 17th-century chamfered doorway or a doorway incorporating reused 17th-century masonry, with a panelled door and overlight.

The rear (present entrance front) is lower. It has 18th-century wide window openings at left and right with similar openings just above, fitted with 20th-century 2-light casements with glazing bars. The central doorway is the circa 1495 principal doorway of Trewoofe (formerly Trewoofe Manor), described above.

The right-hand wall of the rear outshut has 2 chamfered, probably 17th-century windows in situ, and there is another similar window in the adjoining gable end. Granite coped rubble walls front an irregularly shaped shallow courtyard at the rear of the house.

The interior contains a 17th-century slayed-on-plan chamfered fireplace with stone fireback and chamfers to the outer sides of both jambstones in the left-hand room. A 17th- or 18th-century fireplace incorporates much 17th-century chamfered masonry. There is a 17th-century moulded wooden lintel over the rear doorway. 18th-century moulded beams and two 2-panel doors (resited) are present, with otherwise 18th- and 19th-century carpentry and joinery including a 19th-century roof structure.

Trewoofe was held by the Trewoofe family from 1270 (when held by William and his wife Haweis) or earlier until circa 1590. Following the marriage of the only surviving child, Joan, to Thomas Levelis, it was held by the Levelis family until 1690 when it was left to 2 surviving daughters and subsequently sold.