Mudgeon Farmhouse

Mudgeon Farmhouse is a farmhouse with probable 16th-century origins, extended in the early 17th century and probably again in the late 17th century, slightly remodelled in circa the early 18th century, partly reroofed in the 19th century. The lower end and one of the circa early 17th-century wings have been demolished.

The walls are built of shale rubble with some dressed granite to one 17th-century doorway and some 17th-century mullioned windows. Cob forms the first floor of the circa late 17th-century service wing. The roofs are mostly grouted scantle slate with gable ends. There are original lateral rubble stacks to the left-hand wall of the parlour, a brick shaft over a circa 16th to 17th-century lateral stack at the rear of the hall, a taller brick chimney over the 18th-century back parlour cross wall, and brick chimneys over the gable end to the right and over the gable of the service wing.

The plan originally consisted, probably in the 16th century and possibly earlier, of a three-room through passage arrangement. Wings at right angles to the front were added in circa the early 17th century: the left-hand wing served as the parlour and the right-hand wing probably as a service wing. In probably the late 17th century a bakehouse wing with a large fireplace and two bread ovens (one later) was added. In circa the early 18th century the left-hand inner room of the original house was remodelled as a stair hall and a small panelled parlour was added behind, partly under an outshut in the angle and partly in the service wing. The hall has undergone several changes: it was refloored in the 17th century, the front wall has been partly or completely rebuilt and remodelled several times, and a large fireplace was inserted at the lower end, partly blocking the original through passage and making the original rear lateral fireplace redundant (now blocked). The date of demolition of the right-hand lower end room and the front service wing is uncertain, though traces of a wing were seen by Charles Henderson in the 1930s; local tradition, however, holds that the wing was never finished. Some 17th-century granite mullions are reused as a path kerb approaching the front door.

The building is two storeys. The north-east front of the original hall shows a regular three-window arrangement and the gable end of the projecting parlour wing to the left, plus a small open front lean-to on the right in the position of the original lower end of the house. The rubble wall of the hall front shows much evidence of alteration. The present openings, all with wooden lintels, are 18th century or later altered except for the one to the ground floor middle, which has a scratch-moulded lintel, probably late 17th century, with a circa early 19th-century hornless 20-pane sash. The doorway to the left has an old four-panel door with round-arched upper panels and a plain rectangular overlight. The ground floor to the right, much rebuilt, is blind except for a square vent. The window above is a greatly heightened opening but now aligns with the other first-floor opening. All are fitted with 16-pane horned sashes. The 17th-century parlour wing's north-west front is the best feature of the house, with a central six-light mullioned window to the ground floor and a four-light mullioned window above. Alternate king mullions and a square hoodmould sit over the ground floor parlour window. The mullions are hollow chamfered and the king mullions have a central fillet. The central common mullion of the parlour window has an internal pier hollow chamfered within and corbelled out at the top to carry the internal lintel. The leaded casements are original with much original 17th-century glass. At the rear of the parlour, on the south-east wall to the left of the 17th-century external parlour stack, is an irregular arrangement of five windows. Those to the ground floor and first floor to the right are original two-light mullioned windows; the other two were cut in the 18th century. The ground floor window midway is glazed but the other two 17th-century windows are blocked. The glazed window and the two-light casement above have circa late 18th-century horizontal glazing bars and many original leaded panes between. The ground floor left-hand window is lower and the tall mid-floor stair window above has an 18-pane horned sash. At the rear of the cross passage is a probably 17th-century square-headed doorway with straight chamfers and stops. The service wing has a bread oven projection at either side of the gable end, the original one to the south.

The interior contains some good 17th and 18th-century features. The parlour has a splayed moulded granite fireplace with diabolo stops and a niche with an arched head to the gable-end wall. The hall has a large fireplace and a blocked lateral fireplace. The wide cross passage between the hall and stair hall has a 17th-century ovolo-moulded oak cross beam with ogee tongue stops and an 18th-century moulded plaster ceiling cornice to rectangular ceilings on either side. The stair hall contains a circa early 18th-century open-well closed-string stair with a pulvinated frieze, fat column-turned balusters and a moulded handrail running into square moulded newel caps. There is a steeply tented plaster ceiling with a moulded cornice and central pendant. The circa early 18th-century back parlour is completely panelled with bolection-moulded panels and a moulded ceiling cornice; the chimney-piece has similar but more robust mouldings and a circa 1900 tiled iron grate. The first floor, partly inspected, retains some old doors including an 18th-century three-panel door. The roof structures were not inspected but are probably original except over the hall.

Mudgeon is one of the best 17th-century farmhouses in the western half of Cornwall. Particularly notable are the parlour wing windows, complete with glass. The 18th-century features are also of unusually high quality.