Tregrehan House And Attached Steps And Parterre Walls With Urns

Tregrehan House and Attached Steps and Parterre Walls with Urns

This is a country house of complex evolution, with a datestone of 1689 on an attic chamber fireplace and substantial remodelling across subsequent centuries. The house was remodelled in 1706 for Thomas Carlyon I, extensively remodelled and extended in the late 18th century by William Wood for Thomas Carlyon IV, then further remodelled, reduced to the north, and extended at either side of the front in 1848–49 (plans from 1845) by George Wightwick for Colonel Edward Carlyon. Associated garden features were designed by W Eden Nesfield. Some remodelling and restoration also took place in 1969–70.

The front range is built of Pentewan stone ashlar; the remainder is incised stucco or render except for brick pavilions to the rear left and right, which have rusticated granite quoins (the left-hand wing was later rendered). The roofs are dry slate: the hipped south front roof sits behind a dressed stone parapet with turned balustrades over the windows. The other roofs are mansard in form over sprocketed eaves, these being the result of modification when the parapets were removed in 1969–70. Two rendered stacks rise over the rear wall of the front range and an axial stack stands to the rear of these.

The plan is an evolved one, three rooms deep and two rooms wide flanking a central passage, with pavilion wings at the rear left and right projecting further back. The earliest part is the east range, which contains the 1680 dated fireplace and two ground-floor rooms with early 18th-century features. The pavilions and almost certainly the front range in its earlier form followed. The west range likely dates from this period as well, though it was remodelled in 1848–49 as was the front when it was extended at either side and heightened. The east doorway was fitted or resited at the same date. This is an exceptionally rare house type for Cornwall at this date – apparently a double-depth or double-pile plan on an east–west axis from its 1680 rebuilding.

The exterior has two storeys with attics and a symmetrical 1:5:1-bay front with end bays broken forward. The windows were replaced in 1969–70 with hornless sashes with glazing bars, matching the mid-19th-century pattern found elsewhere in the house and replacing what had been late 19th or early 20th-century two-pane sashes. The central doorway has paired Ionic columns and entablature, resited from a former colonnade along the front. Other features include a plinth, mid-floor band, and parapet with moulded cornice. Set well back on either side is a pair of pavilions with moulded granite-framed open pediments incorporating the heads of Venetian windows above flat-headed ground-floor windows. The right-hand pavilion has blind sidelights and what may be the original first-floor sash with thick glazing bars, though these have horns under the meeting rail, perhaps from later repair. The other pavilion has the sidelights later opened and its ground-floor window converted to a Venetian window; a canted bay was added to its west side.

The west front has a central four-window range with a doorway to the third bay from the left. To the right is the one-window range of the end of the south range, with central windows centred on a forward break and detailed similarly to the front. The other end of the south range has a flat one-window front. The east side of the house is a four-window range with its doorway on the right. This doorway is fronted by a fine wooden distyle Doric porch with fluted columns and a tall entablature and open pediment, sheltering a round-arched doorway with concentric spoked cobweb fanlight and panelled door. The rear elevation has a central doorway with a window above, windows to ground and first floors on the left, and a tall round-arched stair window with intersecting glazing bars to its head.

The interior contains features representing all principal periods of development, including very fine early 18th-century and mid-19th-century work. A granite fireplace with 1680 date in relief stands in an attic chamber in the east range. Below are two parlours with fine early 18th-century plaster ceilings of moulded ribs and moulded cornices; the south room also has bolection-moulded panelling and a chimneypiece. A passage to the rear has a late 18th-century moulded ceiling cornice. This passage leads to a small stair hall with a late 18th-century open-well staircase with turned balusters. The first floor has some eared chimneypieces, probably also of the late 18th century. The former cross passage through the centre of the house was opened up around 1848 to its west side adjoining the rear reception room, where a two-bay round-arched arcade with Ionic columns replaces the former partition. A similar arcade stands to the rear of this room where it meets a stair hall. These areas have limestone flagged floors and enriched modillion ceiling cornices, including a cornice expressing the space under the stair landing. The large open-well staircase has turned balusters with a moulded handrail scrolled over the newel. The very fine ceiling of the reception room has a coved vault with intersecting plaster ribs over a reeded band with corner blocks. This room and the reception room in front have very fine chimneypieces back to back on the wall between them. The front room's chimneypiece has a good hob grate and a Royal coat of arms above; the other is Ionic. The front range has a central octagonal vestibule with a plaster vaulted ceiling. To the left is a subdivided drawing room with modillion cornices. To the right is the library, which retains its original circa 1848 oak bookcases with acanthus detail to an elaborate ceiling cornice. All rooms inspected have chimneypieces, some with cast-iron grates, and the reception rooms have panelled mahogany doors.

Stone steps lead to each entrance doorway. Low ashlar parterre walls flank the south front, with urns in a central gap flanking the lower steps and ball finials at either end of the walls.