Treffry Farmhouse

Treffry Farmhouse

This is a two-storey house with basement, dating from the early 18th century, built of local stone rubble and granite (exposed at basement level). The front elevation is slate hung, while the rear and side elevations are pebble-dashed. The hipped roof is currently covered with artificial slate and ridge tiles, with brick side stacks. Two 20th-century roof-lights have been inserted; the common rafters and roof covering have been replaced, and no trace remains of any former dormer windows that may have lit the attic. The basement windows have brick arches. The front elevation displays early 19th-century nine-over-nine sash frames with much original glass surviving. The rear windows are eight-over-eight frames, with horned sashes at ground-floor level. The basement windows hold 20th-century casements.

The house has a rectangular double pile plan with its principal frontage facing south. It is three bays wide with a window above the central entrance. The original window openings are notably tall and narrow. The entrance door is original, with raised and fielded panels, the upper two now glazed. Three granite steps lead to the door, which is sheltered by a late 19th-century timber porch with margin-glazed lights containing etched and coloured glass. The east elevation is blind; the western elevation is partially obscured by an attached agricultural building. The rear elevation has wider window openings with segmental arches at ground-floor level. Centrally beneath the eaves is a small casement window lighting the upper landing. The rear entrance, slightly offset to the east, is reached by semi-circular steps incorporating a mounting or loading block to the left. This door is two-panelled and planked with original furniture and an inserted glazed light. A 20th-century bathroom extension projects above the entrance on iron posts.

A later outbuilding, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, is attached to the west, with a further small lean-to building adjoining to the north, and a single-storey extension attached to the north-east corner. The site slopes downwards to the north, with the basement accessed at ground level. The approach from the south is marked by a pair of granite gate piers with segmental-arched tops.

Interior

The house retains an unusually complete early 18th-century interior. The front door opens into a hall from which the four ground-floor rooms open, with the stair at the far end. The stair is an open-well design, wide and of the open-string type, with three turned balusters to each tread (two replaced) and turned newel posts; the brackets are carved with flower and scroll designs similar to those found on the stair at nearby Lancarffe in Helland parish. The hall has a moulded cornice and skirting board, with original doors and frames; each door has six raised fielded panels, fielded on the outer face only except in the western front room.

The eastern front room retains complete fielded panelling with panelled window embrasures, the door forming part of this scheme. It has a dentil cornice and dado rail. Remarkably, the panelling retains what appears to be its original high-quality wood-graining, with softwood grained to resemble oak. The chimneypiece is thought to date from the 20th century. The door to this room retains what may be the original lock-case and handle. The western front room is smaller and without surviving historic features. The western back room retains panelling to dado level on the back wall with an incorporated window seat; this panelling, with recessed panels, dates from the later 18th or early 19th century and is later than the eastern front room's scheme. A fixed corner cupboard with decoratively ended H-hinges is present. The fireplace has been removed, though the hearth remains. The eastern back room now contains a modern kitchen and is thought not to retain features of interest.

On the first floor there are five rooms, including a small central front room. The rooms open symmetrically from the square landing; the doors and frames are original. Few features of note survive: fireplaces have been removed and cornices and skirtings have been replaced or added, though the cornice to the western front room is thought to be original. The staircase continues to the attic storey in the same form as at the lower levels. The attic contains plain two-panelled 18th-century doors with some original door furniture. The roof structure accommodates the attic rooms, which have sloping walls exposing visible principal rafters; the ceiling is inserted at purlin level. Above the ceiling, roof trusses are formed of collars with king posts morticed, tenoned and pegged at the ridge. The common rafters have been replaced.

The basement is reached by an enclosed straight stair accessed from the rear western room. Its original layout has been altered: a portion has been taken from the eastern front room to gain a window for the central room, and a bathroom has been inserted to the rear, along with other partitions and lowered ceilings. The large western back room, formerly the kitchen, contains a fireplace with a re-used granite surround, tall lintel, and stop-chamfered jamb; the fireplace has been reduced in width to the left, with the left-hand jamb removed or obscured. An oven lies to the rear of the fireplace. A door with slit vents leads from the kitchen to the western front room, which has slate window sills and a slate bench. The basement also contains an 18th-century two-panelled planked door with original latch.

Subsidiary Buildings

The agricultural building to the west is a single-storey rubble stone structure added in the later 18th or early 19th century and much altered. The wide opening to the south indicates it was originally a cartshed; this opening has been reduced in width twice and converted to a window. Other openings have also been altered; the northern doorway has been widened with a single granite jamb inserted. The roof has been replaced. A flue rises against the west wall of the house, thought to result from the building's conversion to use as a back kitchen.

Attached to this building to the north is a later lean-to structure, also of stone and probably dating from the 19th century, with double doors opening towards the house. The north-west corner follows the curve of the road, with a low doorway opening to the road to the north. A window in the north wall has been reduced.

The single-storey lean-to structure to the north-east corner of the house is thought to date from the 19th century and has a new mono-pitch roof.