Trehawke

House. Constructed circa 1650 to 1664, with earlier elements, and remodeled and extended circa 1860s for Peter Kekewich. The building incorporates datestones (P 1664 K and P 1650 K) reset in the walls of a piggery and barn. It is built of rubblestone with granite quoins and reused dressed granite, including carved spandrels on the ground floor of the front range. The roof is slate, with hipped ends to the west front, and a projection with a gable end to the right. The rear range has a gable end to the east. There are rubblestone stacks on the left-hand hipped end, two rubblestone stacks with slate strings to the right of the central ridge and to the rear of the front range, and a rubblestone C19 stack on the east gable end.

The plan has been considerably altered, with a possible partial demolition and re-orientation of a C17 range. It comprises a west range with two rooms and a central passage; a large hall to the rear on the northeast; a two-storey porch on the right of the C17 range, which has been remodeled; and a C19 range to the rear, two rooms deep, with a wide passage between the C17 and C19 ranges.

The west front is asymmetrical with a four-window arrangement. On the ground floor, there’s a three-light casement with glazing bars, a granite cill for a mullioned window, and a dressed stone arch with a granite keystone. To the right is a C20 timber porch. In a recessed section on the right, there’s a reset, three-centred granite arch with chamfered arch and jambs, a hoodmould with carved label stops, and recessed spandrels with small central balls.

The first floor has a late C19 two-light casement with three panes per light, an early C19 two-light casement with glazing bars (both beneath dressed stone arches with granite keystones), a six-pane casement with a timber lintel and slate hood, and an early C19 three-light casement with glazing bars, also beneath a dressed stone arch with a granite keystone.

Inside, the room on the front to the left features a remodelled fireplace lintel with decorated granite spandrels, featuring simple figures in relief, accompanied by a dressed stone arch. The large hall on the northeast has a blocked fireplace, at least 1.75 meters deep. Blocked fireplaces are also present on the first floor. The upper room of the two-storey porch contains a secret cupboard with a sprung opening, operated from an adjoining room.

Historically, the property was formerly known as Trehavock, potentially referencing a place notable for keeping or breeding hawks, or a tenure linked to providing hawks to a lord. It was held by Reginald de Valletort under the Earl of Cornwall during William I’s reign and passed through the Trehawkes family to the Kekewiches and later to C Trelawny. The property is marked in Carew’s Survey of Cornwall (1602) and John Norden’s General Perambulation and Deliniation.