Valency House

Valency House is a house, originally converted into a hotel, dating from the early to mid 17th century, with significant remodelling in the mid 19th century. It is constructed of rendered and painted stone rubble, with a cement-pointed rag slate roof featuring gable ends, although the ridge tiles were renewed in the late 20th century. A gabled rag slate roof covers the rear stair projection. Brick shafts formerly served the stone rubble end stacks, and a projecting rear lateral stack has been removed.

The building has a three-room and cross or through-passage plan, with the lower end on the right and the inner room on the left, each originally heated by end stacks, while the hall was heated by a rear lateral stack. Around the 18th century, a stair was added to the rear of the passage, likely concurrent with the addition of a single-story dairy and kitchen in outshots to the rear of the hall, inner room, and lower end. In the mid-19th century, the interior was remodelled, the stair replaced, and the outshot behind the hall and inner room was raised to two stories.

The house is built into a hillside, with the ground rising to the rear. The front has an asymmetrical four-window facade. The ground floor features three early 19th-century 12-pane hornless sash windows, with an entrance to the right of centre. The entrance is framed by a circa early 19th-century doorcase with fluted pilasters, a frieze, and a cornice, leading to an early 19th-century partly glazed door with lozenge and margin glazing bars. The first floor has four early 19th-century hornless 12-pane sash windows set within half-dormers with raking roofs.

The interior exhibits high-quality 19th-century detailing. The entrance hall features cornicing decorated with a band of acanthus leaves and an arch with incised pilasters. The fireplace in the lower right-hand room was remodelled in the 20th century, and the lintel was likely renewed, but the plaster cornices remain largely intact, with an egg and dart motif and vine-leaf trail. The partition between the hall and inner room has been altered, the hall fireplace blocked, and the fireplace to the inner room rebuilt in the 20th century. A circa early 19th-century open-string stair has a wreathed rail and stick balusters, with panelling to the dado rail on the opposite wall. The first floor has a coved ceiling, likely dating back to the 17th century, although some lathes have been replaced and the ceiling wallpapered. Several 18th-century two-panel doors are present. The roof structure of the 17th-century section has unchamfered principals and collars, suggesting that the first floor was always sealed. The principals are halved, lap-jointed and pegged with four oak pegs at the apices, with a diagonal ridge. The collars are partly halved, lap-jointed, and pegged, and there are two tiers of trenched butt-purlins. A circa 18th-century collar-rafter roof covers the stair projection, while 19th-century trusses are in the rear of the hall and inner room, supporting the second story of the outshot. The exterior and interior remain largely unaltered and the building is situated near the picturesque harbour at Boscastle.