The Old Cottages

House, circa 16th century, possibly with earlier origins, at Trebarwith in Tintagel.

The building is constructed of slate stone rubble, rendered and painted on the front elevation, with a bitumen-coated rag slate roof with gable ends. Multiple stone rubble stacks project from the structure: a projecting stack on the left-hand gable end, a front lateral hall stack rebuilt in the 20th century, an axial stack on the higher side of the passage heating the first floor chamber, and a stack on the front corner of the right-hand gable end. All stacks have slate pots, each made from four vertically set slates with triangular tops.

The original plan was probably a three-room structure with through passage, featuring a stone rubble cross wall between the inner room and hall continuing to the apex. The stone rubble cross wall on the higher side of the passage also continues to the apex, though it was partly rebuilt above first floor level when a fireplace was inserted to heat the first floor chamber. It is uncertain whether the hall was originally open; the roof structure has been replaced, though an earlier lower roof line is visible from weathering on the front wall and the lower side of the cross wall between hall and inner room.

The long three-bay inner room is heated by a gable end stack with a small bay projection on the front and a stair turret on the rear, containing a newel stair providing access to the chamber above. The smaller two-bay hall is heated by a front-lateral stack with a circa 17th-century hall bay adjoining. The rear door of the through passage has been blocked, and the partition on the lower side of the passage was probably removed.

Two storeys with an asymmetrical three-window front. The left side has a lean-to outshot, and a one-room cottage was added on the lower right-hand gable end in circa 17th century. Early 19th-century sixteen-pane sash and two-light horizontally sliding ash windows sit to the left of the front lateral hall stack, with a small fire window adjoining. An entrance is set within a circa 19th-century stone rubble porch with a part-glazed inner door. A casement to the right lights the lower end, with a corner stack on the right. The first floor has a two-light casement in a half dormer with raking roof lighting the two-storey bay projection to the inner room. The adjoining hall bay projection has been raised to two storeys and has a two-light granite mullion window in a full dormer with raking roof. A 19th-century two-light casement lights the chamber above the lower room. The rear elevation features a stair projection to the rear of the inner room and a blocked rear door opening to the through passage.

Interior features include a through passage with blocked rear door, a thick wall on the higher side, and no partition on the lower side. Floor joists above the two-bay hall have been largely replaced with one chamfered beam with a hollow run-out stop. The hall fireplace has a roughly cut lintel supported on the left by a slate-corbelled jamb and features a cloam oven; a hall bay adjoins the higher side of the fireplace. Floor joists above the three-bay inner room were replaced in the 20th century. The fireplace on the gable end has a large unmoulded slate lintel and cloam oven, with a bay projection at the front adjoining the hall bay on the front elevation. A slate newel stair is situated in a projection on the higher side to the rear. In the lower end, ceiling beams are unmoulded and the fireplace was rebuilt in the 20th century but retains its cloam oven. The fireplace to the chamber above the lower end has a rough-cut timber lintel and appears to have been inserted.

The roof structure above the lower end appears to have been replaced in the 18th century; the two pairs of straight principals are halved, lap-jointed and pegged at the apices, with collars lap-jointed and pegged onto the face of the principals. The roof structure above the two-bay hall has also been replaced; the original eaves line is visible on the higher cross wall. The principals are halved, lap-jointed and pegged at the apex, carrying a diagonal ridge; the collar is cranked but only lapped and pegged onto the face of the principals. Above the three-bay inner room, the two trusses have also been replaced, probably in the 18th century, with principals halved, lap-jointed and pegged at the apices and collars lapped and pegged onto the face of the principals. Later roof trusses have been inserted.

The house is particularly picturesque on its front and rear elevations and has an interesting plan. As the roof structure has been replaced, it is difficult to be certain whether the small two-bay hall was originally open.