Trengwainton House

Trengwainton House is a country house built on the site of a Tudor dwelling. The house has a complex building history spanning several centuries. A portion of the front probably dates to the 18th century and was remodelled around 1810 for Sir Rose Price, a West Indian sugar planter, with extensions added probably in the early to mid-19th century. In 1881, marked by a datestone on the north front, the remains of the Tudor house and much of the 18th and early 19th-century work were demolished and rebuilt for the Bolitho family, wealthy bankers involved in Cornish mining. A further remodelling and extension was carried out in 1897 by T R Bolitho, though the architect is not known. A sundial on the left-hand wall is inscribed RO 1723.

The house is constructed in granite ashlar with some stucco and granite rubble with dressings to the front, mostly brought to course. Parapets and some chimneys are limestone. The roofs are predominantly hipped, covered with Delabole slate and featuring a central valley.

The building is of classical style, mostly two storeys with attics. The original east front was symmetrically planned with a 3:1:3 bay arrangement. A central entrance bay features a late 19th-century distyle-in-antis Tuscan porch. The flanking bays are surmounted by triangular pediments supported on shallow pilasters, with a balustraded parapet between them. In front of the ground floor are large late 19th-century window bays: a 3-light window to the left and a pair of 2-light windows to the right. These bays have balconies with plain parapets above. The ground floor has mullioned windows with transoms, while the first floor features mid-19th-century Y-traceried sashes. The central window is set within a wider elliptical arch; the others are round-headed. French windows were probably inserted in the late 19th century to the balconies central to the pediments.

The north entrance front is largely of 1881 except for a three-storey wing to the far right, which retains many original circa early or mid-19th-century 12-pane hornless sashes and internal window shutters. The 1881 portion has a balustraded parapet, a large Tuscan distyle-in-antis closed porch with a central round-headed doorway towards the left, and a 3-window canted bay to the right, mostly fitted with 12-pane horned sashes.

The south garden front comprises a two to three-storey circa early to mid-19th-century wing to the left with many original hornless sashes and internal window shutters. The far right is the stuccoed return wall of the 18th-century house, pierced with 19th and 20th-century windows. The middle of the front, comprising four bays, is probably of 1881 or 1897 and includes a canted bay to the ground floor right, fitted with original horned sashes.

The interior was not inspected for the purposes of this record.

The property was purchased in 1867 by T S Bolitho, a banker. T R Bolitho and the head gardener A Creek, working with advice and assistance from J C Williams of Caerhays and P D Williams of Lanarth, created a new garden featuring shrubs from New Zealand, Australia, Chile and the Himalayas. In 1929, G Johnstone of Trewithren and Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote offered Bolitho a share in Kingdon Ward's plant hunting expedition to Assam and Burma in 1927–28. Seeds collected on this expedition form the basis of the fine rhododendron collection at Trengwainton.