Trewince House

Trewince House is a small country house dating from the mid-18th century, with possible earlier origins. It was extended around 1897 by Silvanus Trevail. The original house is constructed of granite ashlar to the front, with brick at the rear and side walls. The roof is hipped and covered in Delabole dry slate with a hidden valley. A later, rendered extension obscures part of the southern side. Rendered brick stacks rise from the side walls, with the stack to the left and over the extension featuring a modillion cornice.

The house follows a two-room, central stair, double pile plan. It is built in the Classical style and spans two storeys with a basement. The eastern front has five windows, each with 12-pane sashes. The keyed central doorway is framed by long and short green freestone jambs and a low-pitched triangular pediment. All other openings are arched and feature projecting granite keystones. The basement has chamfered rustications, and the ground floor sill band was cut back and lowered in the 19th century to align with the sills. The mid-floor string course remains intact, except on the southern wall. A granite modillion cornice tops the ashlar blocking course to the parapet, and there are two hipped roofed dormers.

To the rear, a gabled projection from the 19th century, supported by brick piers, extends the main stair landing. A reset original round-headed window with heavy ovolo moulded glazing bars and lozenge-shaped panes is incorporated into this projection. A flat-roofed projection to the right may have been a Victorian lavatory. A surviving 18th-century sash window is found in the servant’s stair well, while original sashes remain in the basement and the right-hand ground floor window of the three-window north front. A ground floor window on the south side, left of the chimney position, is glazed but blocked behind, seemingly to maintain the symmetry of the original five-window front with a central doorway.

The interior retains much mid-18th century detail, possibly original, including eared doorcases with pulvinated friezes and fine plaster ceilings in the main stair well, vestibule, and parlour on the left. The parlour boasts a chimney piece with a festooned overmantle and a pedimented rococo ceiling with an oval design, arabesques, and a modillion cornice. The main dog-leg stair has wrought iron balusters, while the servant’s stair features a Chinese balustrade. The fireplace in the front right room has a carved head, a pulvinated frieze, panelled window shutters, and an early 19th-century plaster ceiling with a band. The vestibule has an arabesque design on its ceiling, 6-panelled doors, and panelled reveals. Vitruvian scroll detail adorns the chair rail, seemingly of the early 19th century. A chinoiserie panel is found on the basement door, and the northwest room retains original 18th-century chair rail and ceiling cornice. The first-floor rooms and roof were not inspected.