Trenearne

Trenearne is a house, now farmhouse, dating from the early 17th century or possibly 1660, when it may have been remodelled. The datestone bears the initials 'PW' and the date 1660. It is constructed of stone rubble with a slate roof featuring gable ends. The building has gabled end and lateral stacks, the latter now with later brick shafts.

The house survives only in part and was probably originally of an overall H-shaped plan, of which the lower cross wing has been demolished. The entrance position is uncertain. The surviving structure comprises the higher north-east cross wing containing a 2-room plan heated by gabled end stacks, with three principal chambers above. The central range has been remodelled and probably once contained the original cross or through passage, with the hall possibly heated by a front lateral stack now positioned in the left corner of the house. A 19th-century stair has been added in an outshut to the rear of the central range. The house probably originally continued with a second cross wing on the lower south-west side, which would have accommodated service rooms.

The exterior presents two storeys. Moulded granite strings and continuous hood moulds appear above the first floor windows. The higher right-hand cross wing is complete, with a 4-light mullion window on the ground floor and a 3-light mullion window above in both front and rear elevations. The north-east side remains unaltered, with double gables to the end stacks and a mullion window on the first floor lighting the central principal chamber. The lower truncated left-hand wall on the south-west side is slate hung.

Internally, the through or cross passage has been remodelled, though the door frames to the two principal rooms in the right-hand cross wing and to the central room survive with ovolo-moulded timber frames featuring high jewelled and stepped stops. Two of the door frames bear the initials PW and the date 1660 in the bars of the stops. The fireplaces to the three rooms have been covered over with 20th-century replacements placed in front. The entrances to the first floor chambers have been altered to accommodate a corridor, and the doors and frames have been reset; the door frames are ovolo-moulded with high stops, and one surviving 17th-century studded door is of double lapped construction, with framing and strap hinges.

The three chambers in the cross wing each originally had barrel vaulted ceilings, of which the end partitions survive in the roof. Two rooms retain fine quality 17th-century plaster friezes. The front room features a Pegasus theme and a plaster overmantle with an oval wreath and strapwork, together with a 17th-century granite lintel decorated with zig-zag patterns and ovolo-moulded ribs. The rear room on the north-west has a plaster frieze with alternating floral and fleur-de-lys patterns and a splendid overmantle with strapwork and a central robed angel flanked by two robed figures.

The roof structure comprises principals with morticed apices and partly halved, lap-jointed and pegged collars with trenched purlins. The feet of the principals on the lower side of the cross wing appear to rest on a replaced timber wall plate.

The Barton of Trenearne, with Treator, Tregerryn, Treniow and Trelowsa, was acquired by the Peter family through the marriage of William Peter with Jane, daughter of Sir Roger Arundell in the 16th century. In 1579 Thomas Peter was given these estates and first settled at Trenearne, suggesting he either built a house there or found one already existing. He subsequently moved to Treator, which became the residence of his descendants for approximately two hundred years.