Tregye, The Duchy Grammar School

The Duchy Grammar School at Tregye is a country house dating to 1809, originally built for William Penrose, with substantial extensions and remodelling in the late 19th century. It is constructed of elvan ashlar, with elvan chimneys and a hipped roof covered in Delabole slate, featuring slightly projecting eaves and gabled roof dormers. The rectangular plan comprises a three-room width and a two-room depth, incorporating thick cross walls and an axial passage leading to the staircase on the right-hand side. An original canted bay window projects from the central room facing east, accompanied by a late 19th-century, L-shaped service wing attached to the rear of the north end. The house is two storeys high plus an attic, set above a basement.

The symmetrical east garden front features five windows, with a central canted bay containing three windows, flanked by single-window bays, the windows being closely set to the side walls. The basement forms a plinth. A plain parapet, originally extending across the central bay with two windows, survives, with a large, later gabled dormer window above it. A left-hand dormer window has been converted into a door. The windows are 12-pane hornless sash windows, set within flat arches with projecting keystones.

The south entrance front, which has four windows, displays a 20th-century flat-roofed single-storey extension that obscures the original entrance. This extension sits in the third opening from the left, revealing the initials “W.P.” and the date 1809. The arch and jambs of the original entrance are slightly recessed, with scalloped decoration of the voussoirs repeated in the glazing pattern. The dormers have ashlar gables likely constructed from reused stone from the original parapet. An original stair window is present on the north side.

The interior retains numerous early 19th-century features, including panelled window shutters, original doors, panelled reveals and plaster ceiling cornices. A small room to the south-east features an original moulded cornice; a room to the south-west has a simple moulded ceiling band, and the central room to the north of this contains a moulded cornice and ceiling band. The central front room is octagonal, with an inner partition mirroring the canted bay. The ceiling is decorated with a trailing rose band and a central rose featuring carvings of harvest fruits. A late 19th-century open-well staircase, of an early 18th-century revival style, has turned balusters with mid-way square blocks, a mahogany handrail, and turned newel posts adorned with turned finials. The first floor and attic were not inspected.