St Petrocs And Railings To Front

St Petrocs and Railings to Front, New Street, Padstow

A large house dating from the early 18th century, with substantial extensions undertaken in the early and mid 19th centuries and further alterations in the late 20th century. The building is situated on the west side of New Street, Padstow.

The front elevation is painted ashlar slate stone, symmetrical across five windows, with the remainder of the structure comprising partly slate-hung stone rubble, timber frame gable end, and stone rubble to the rear. The roof is slate with gable ends and brick end stacks topped with slate pots.

The facade presents two storeys with an attic storey. The five-window front retains complete early 18th-century sash windows with thick glazing bars. A central early 18th-century doorcase contains a raised and fielded panelled door, sheltered by an 18th-century porch with two painted timber columns. A moulded eaves cornice runs across the front. Three full dormers, partly slate-hung with two-light casements and hipped slate roofs, punctuate the attic storey.

The original plan likely comprised a central entrance with a wide passage, flanked by two principal rooms heated by end stacks, with a shallow service room in an outshot to the rear of the left-hand room. An 18th-century stair, probably reset, was accommodated in a stair projection to the rear of the passage, with a service wing of single-room plan to the rear of the right-hand room. The house may have continued to the rear with a courtyard arrangement.

Early 19th-century remodelling significantly altered the interior. The right-hand partition of the passage was moved to accommodate a large reception room or entrance hall. A further room was added to the rear of the left-hand room with dairy and service accommodation beyond. The right-hand wing was also extended to the rear with several service rooms. Late 20th-century works partly rebuilt and extended the rear service areas. The left-hand gable end wall of the front range indicates the house also extended further to the left.

The entrance hall was remodelled in the early 19th century and retains an acanthus leaf plaster cornice, dado rail, and segmental arches in situ. The left-hand room features a moulded 18th-century cornice, china cupboards, raised and fielded panels to 18th-century shutters, and a 19th-century chimney-piece with a late 19th-century tiled grate. The right-hand room was reduced in size in the early 19th century, though part of the truncated 18th-century plaster cornice survives on the front wall. The 18th-century stair, probably reset, is constructed as a framed stair with thick stick balusters, a simple moulded deep rail, and square newels. The first floor retains one surviving 18th-century chimney-piece. A large reception room or ball room to the rear left features a 19th-century barrel-vaulted ceiling with a plaster cornice decorated with acanthus leaves and a late 19th-century chimney-piece.

The front range roof structure features principals morticed at the apices with no sign of peg holes or halving for original collars. Carpenter's marks are visible on some timbers.

To the front of the house stands a set of 19th-century iron railings.

The house is possibly dated to 1810, built for a Padstow merchant. From 1775, the property was owned by William Rawlings, an importer and exporter. It subsequently passed to his son Thomas, a prominent merchant who owned a ship repair yard and Padstow Bank. Thomas also served as Vice Consul for Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and later as sheriff of Cornwall.