Trelissick Manor House, Farmhouse And Cottage, Including Front And Rear Garden Wall, Summer House, Gate Piers And Gate

Trelissick Manor House, Farmhouse and Cottage, with Front and Rear Garden Walls, Summer House, Gate Piers and Gate

A medieval manor house on a pre-Conquest site, substantially remodelled in 1668 for the Paynter family and again in the 18th century, with early 19th-century extensions. The building now comprises two houses and an adjoining cottage. It is constructed of granite rubble walls with granite dressings and has steep roofs with gable ends (except for a hipped end on the far right). The front range is roofed in grouted scantle slate, while elsewhere concrete tiles are used. The chimneys are 17th-century granite ashlar stacks with moulded entablature, positioned at the gable ends to left and rear (over an external chimney breast), over the cross wall between house and farmhouse, and as an external lateral stack over the left-hand wall of the rear range.

The building follows an L-shaped plan with a 2-room early 19th-century cottage set back on the left. A lean-to pantry or dairy lies to the left of the kitchen, and a 19th-century butler's pantry occupies the right-hand side of the rear wing. The original medieval plan was largely replaced during the 17th century, incorporating some earlier elements. The front range extends five rooms in length. The rear wing runs at right angles behind the left-hand portion of the front range and contains a stair hall, back parlour, and large kitchen at the rear. A distinctive quadrant-on-plan link turret (smaller in plan at first-floor level) projects from the inner angle between the two principal ranges.

The left-hand portion of the front range rises taller, as does the wing behind it, and houses a principal parlour with a principal chamber over, both featuring fine late 17th-century details. A cross passage runs to the right of the parlour, leading to a passage on the right-hand side of the rear wing. The front wall to the right of this passage is notably thick (approximately 1.2 metres) and shows a ragged joint partway along its length. A similar joint appears in the right-hand wall of the wing. The left-hand wall of the wing (17th century or earlier) continues to form the left side of a 19th-century granary. Several carved stone fragments from the 17th century remain in the courtyard at the rear left, including two columns possibly from a former porch or colonnade. A datestone reading 1668 is reset into the front (north) wall of the cottage.

Exterior

The building presents a two-storey elevation with a slightly irregular south front of six windows. The rear wall of the cottage is set back on the left. The two bays on the left are taller, and the second window from the left on the first floor is blocked. The two ground-floor windows are late 17th-century 2-light chamfered windows with granite transoms and mullions. The first-floor left-hand window and similar 20th-century copies on the right-hand side are wooden mullioned windows with transoms. The older window and three similar windows in the rear wing are possibly 17th century. A narrow doorway to the right of the granite windows cuts through a medieval wall. To the right of this doorway is a late 18th-century 16-pane casement window with a similar window above in a former wider opening. The mullioned windows contain probably 19th-century casements. Between the right-hand windows is a 20th-century window, likely in a former doorway position. The rear wing features late 18th-century 30-pane sash windows and later copies in the left-hand wall, along with old ledged doors. The cottage displays a symmetrical three-window north front with original sash windows. To the right of the doorway is a reset datestone bearing 1668 in relief. Reused 17th-century chamfered lintels sit above the openings here and elsewhere throughout the house.

Interior

The interior remains largely unaltered since the 18th and early 19th centuries and retains several fine late 17th-century features. These include complex inner mouldings to all transommed windows (with wooden linings to the granite windows), a moulded ceiling with a central carved oval and bolection-moulded dado panelling in the best parlour, a bolection-moulded chimney-piece and plaster barrel ceiling with moulded cornices in the chamber above the parlour, and two 17th-century doors with ogee-moulded ceiling beams in the room to the right of the parlour. Eighteenth-century features include dado panelling with moulded chair rails and doors with H-L hinges. The stairs, probably dating from the early 19th century, feature a dog-leg configuration with a closed string, rectangular balusters, and a chamfered newel. Within the stair cupboard is Gothic-style wallpaper, presumably predating the stairs. The butler's pantry retains its original fittings, including a dresser. The roof structures (not inspected) are presumed to date from the late 17th or early 18th century.

Gardens and Outbuildings

Rubble walls with slate copings enclose two rectangular gardens at the front. The left-hand garden has a lower granite-coped wall at the front, ramped up at the sides, with some low box planting along the sides (possibly continuing a longstanding tradition). The right-hand garden was probably an orchard and contains a two-storey summer house (or apple loft) in its front left-hand corner, accessed via granite steps leading up to the upper floor from the left-hand garden. Two rectangular courtyards at the rear are enclosed by rubble walls. The left-hand courtyard has a rear gateway with granite monolithic piers and an early 19th-century iron gate.

Historical Context

James Paynter of Trelissick was the man who proclaimed James II as king. The property later passed to the Hearle family. In the 19th century it was rented by William Harvey (1805–1893), the youngest son of John Harvey and nephew of Henry Harvey (1775–1850), from Francis Hearle Rodd. Following Henry Harvey's death, William became actively involved in the management of the family firm, Harvey and Co.

Special Features

The house contains several unusual and noteworthy characteristics. The transomed mullioned windows are unique in this part of Cornwall. The quadrant-on-plan projections in the angle between the main ranges may serve as communicating passages at ground and first-floor levels and may never have contained stairs connecting the two floors.