Trebrea Lodge And Flanking Pavilions

Trebrea Lodge and Flanking Pavilions

A house with flanking pavilions, probably dating from the mid-18th century, situated in Tintagel. The building is notable for its asymmetrical plan and unusual layout combining a central residential range with two flanking service wings connected by curved quadrant walls to small pavilions.

Exterior

The front elevation is stuccoed with rusticated quoins, while the rear elevation is partly slate hung. The roof is of rag slate with two lower wings to the right and left featuring gable ends and sprocketed eaves; the left-hand wing roof has been coated in bitumen. The higher central range has hipped ends with rendered stacks on the gable ends and a rear lateral stack on the left.

The building is three storeys at the central range and two storeys with attic in the flanking wings, presenting an overall fenestration pattern of 2:4:2 windows across the front. The central section retains complete late 18th or early 19th-century fenestration with 12-pane hornless sashes and crown glass, rusticated quoins and keystones. The ground floor has a 20th-century stone rubble porch to the right with a 19th-century part-glazed door and panelled reveals, and three 12-pane sashes to the left. Four 12-pane sashes light the first floor, and four 3-over-6-pane sashes the second floor. The lower wings each have two 12-pane hornless sashes on ground and first floors, with a full dormer window in the right-hand wing.

Curved quadrant walls with crenellation connect the service wings to two small two-storey pavilions that project forward from the central section. These pavilions have regular two-window fronts with sash windows and pyramidal roofs. The right-hand quadrant wall contains three tiers of pigeon holes. The rear and side elevations remain unaltered.

Plan and Interior

The building has an unusual asymmetrical plan, with the entrance placed asymmetrically in the central range. This entrance leads directly into a large stairhall heated by a fireplace in the right-hand side wall. The large room on the left is heated by a rear lateral stack. The stair is partly incorporated in a shallow rear projection and leads up to a large drawing room on the first floor, heated by the left-hand end stack. The two lower service wings are heated by gable-end stacks, with a further circa-19th-century service outshot to the rear of the central range.

The interior is largely complete and retains significant original features. Within the stairhall, an opening immediately to the right of the entrance leads into a shaft that extends the full height of the south, right-hand wing and opens into a tunnel running across the rear of the house; its original purpose is unclear, although evidence suggests members of the Bray family may have been involved in smuggling. The stairhall ceiling features circa-mid-18th-century moulded plaster ribs with floral motifs in deep relief around roundels. The open-well stair has square fluted newels and stick balusters.

The dining room to the left of the stairhall contains an oak chimneypiece with overmantle believed to have been purchased by Dr Dickenson, who lived at Trebrea from 1911 to 1913. The chimneypiece is probably 19th-century, while the overmantle incorporates early 17th-century carving with bracketed entablature and mannerist terms. The first floor retains two circa-mid-18th-century six-panelled doors with raised and fielded panels. The drawing room plasterwork is rococo in style, dating probably to between 1750 and 1780.

Historical Context

Local tradition suggests that the two service wings were originally two separate houses occupied by two branches of the Bray family, and that the central range was built by John Bray in 1790. Prior to 1790, the house formed part of the ancient manor of Downrow and Trenale and was known as Downrow Lodge. Considerable documentary material relating to the occupation of the Bray family survives in the Duchy of Cornwall records. The curved quadrant walls connect to small pavilions probably built as coachhouses and stables.