Lower Truscott

LOWER TRUSCOTT

A house dating from the early 17th century, built in stone rubble with a regular slate roof featuring gable and hipped ends. Stone rubble axial and rear lateral chimney stacks have moulded caps and weathering; the axial stack on the lower end has a brick shaft.

The house is constructed down a slope with ground rising to the left, giving it an overall U-shaped plan. The main front range contains a 3-room layout with through passage. The lower end on the right is heated by an end stack; the hall is heated by a rear lateral stack; and the inner room is heated by an axial stack on the higher side of the hall. A thick cross wall sits on the lower side of the passage, with a 17th-century screen on the higher side. A thick wall incorporating the axial stack separates the hall from the inner room. The wing to the rear right of the lower end is unheated and serves as a barn. The wing to the rear left of the higher end appears to be 17th-century in origin with an end stack for heating, though it was rebuilt in the 20th century. During the later 17th century, a staircase was added in a projection to the rear of the hall, positioned in the angle between the front range and the rear left-hand wing. The rear entrance to the through passage was blocked in the 20th century.

The exterior is two storeys with an asymmetrical 4-window front; ground slopes down to the right. The front wall of the hall has been rebuilt, possibly in the 19th century. The entrance, positioned right of centre, has a 4-centred granite hollow chamfered arch frame with pyramid stops and hood mould. A 4-light mullion window to the right retains the central king mullion but has had the two flanking mullions removed and replaced with two 19th-century sashes. A 20th-century window lights the hall to the left, with a 19th-century 3-light casement beyond. The first floor has a 19th-century 3-light casement to the left and three 2-light casements positioned above the ground floor openings. The left-hand wall of the rear left-hand wing was rebuilt in the 20th century. The lower right-hand wing has a large blocked opening on its lower side and a line of pigeon holes.

Attached to the lower right-hand side of the house is a granite moulded 17th-century arch doorway, which may have been resited as a garden entrance. This may have originally been positioned to the rear of the house, flanked by walls forming a courtyard, or may have come from a putative gatehouse.

The interior features a wide passage, now blocked at the rear, which retains a circa later 17th-century hall screen on its higher side with scratch moulded stiles and muntins and raised and fielded panels. A later 18th-century door is set in the screen. The floor joists to the hall have been boxed-in since the 19th century with a plastered ceiling. The hall fireplace has a 17th-century chamfered lintel and jambs with diagonal, concave stops. A similar fireplace exists in the inner room. The fireplace at the lower end has been partly covered by a 19th-century Delabole slate surround. A 17th-century timber lintel with straight cut stops originally heated the higher left-hand rear wing. A late 17th-century or early 18th-century staircase has a square newel, turned balusters, and a deep moulded and ramped rail, with a heavy moulded circa 18th-century cornice above. The roof structure was not inspected but should be examined before any work is undertaken.

In 1684, Lower Truscott was one of the principal seats in St Stephen Parish, owned by Thomas Rowe, gentleman.