Lower Goongillings

Lower Goongillings is a small house of early 17th-century origin with an 18th-century extension, substantially altered internally in the late 19th and late 20th centuries. It stands in the manor of Polwheverall.

The main structure is built of granite rubble with dressed granite quoins, lintels, stacks and doorframe. The lower left end is rendered cob on a stone rubble plinth. The roof is Delabole slate with a gabled end to the right and a half-hipped end to the left, carried down at the rear over an outshut. Red clay ridge tiles finish the roof. A large dressed granite stack sits at the right-hand gable end, and a smaller axial stack towards the left end has a rendered shaft with dripmould; this axial stack was originally the gable end stack of the early 17th-century house.

The original house contained two principal front rooms: a parlour at the lower left end with an end stack, and a kitchen to the right with a large gable-end fireplace incorporating an oven. The integral outshut behind the right-hand room was probably the dairy. In the 18th century a single-room extension with a gable-end stack was added to the lower left end. Direct entry into the right-hand kitchen exists, though originally there may have been a cross-passage. In the late 20th century the partition between kitchen and parlour was removed, and a staircase in the rear outshut was replaced by one positioned between the former kitchen and parlour.

The exterior presents two storeys with a window range of one to three openings. The three windows to the right, belonging to the original house, are small late 19th-century four-pane sashes with slate cills, the ground-floor examples being slightly larger than those on the first floor. A central doorway features a chamfered four-centre arch granite frame with diagonal stops and an old boarded door with wrought-iron hinges. The single-window range to the left, the 18th-century addition, is built of rendered cob and contains 19th-century two-light casements with horizontal glazing bars; the first-floor light on one window retains its original leaded panes.

The rear elevation has various small 19th-century two-light casements with glazing bars. The first floor to the right features a 19th-century two-light horizontally sliding sash with glazing bars. The back doorway of the outshut has been blocked with a casement inserted in its place, and a 20th-century plank door occupies the right-hand side of the outshut.

Interior partitions in the original part of the house have been removed. The two front rooms of the original house have late 19th-century softwood joists. The right-hand room retains a large fireplace with rough granite jambs and a chamfered timber lintel without stops; the right-hand side of the fireplace contains an original stone-lined oven. The fireplace in the lower left-hand room of the original house has been removed. The lower left-end addition has a fireplace with a roughly chamfered wooden lintel and 20th-century ceiling beams.

The roof over the original house has been largely replaced in the late 20th century, though the 19th-century softwood trusses have been retained. The roof over the lower left-end addition has circa 18th-century straight collars pegged to the face of the straight principals.