Welltown Manor

This house was possibly built in the early 16th century for the Tinke family, who appear to have been of yeoman status. It is constructed of slate stone rubble with some quartz, and has a bitumen-coated rag slate roof with a gable end on the left and a lean-to roof to the range on the right. A gabled two-storey porch stands to the right of centre. The rear wing has a gabled end, as does the parallel range at the rear.

The building has a stone rubble stack on the left-hand gable end, and a stone rubble front lateral hall stack with a round brick shaft in header bond. What was possibly originally a rear lateral stack is now an axial stack incorporated in the rear wing, and there is a stone rubble gable end stack to the rear wing.

Plan and Development

The plan has been altered, but the house appears originally to have comprised a three-room and through-passage plan, with the lower end to the right. There was a turreted stair to the rear of the higher side of the hall, providing access to the chamber above the inner room and possibly above the hall, and a turreted stair at the lower side of the passage serving the chamber above the service range. The thick stone wall between the hall and inner room continues to the apex, and the thick stone wall at the lower side of the passage has been truncated above the first-floor ceiling, probably when the service range was demolished. The ceiling beams above the hall, passage and inner room are identical in detail, and the identical roof structure above the two-bay inner room and four-bay hall and passage appears to be clean, although coated with a dark varnish.

The exact arrangement of the early plan is uncertain, although the two turreted stairs, the thick walls at the higher and lower sides of hall and passage, and the low roof line could support the hypothesis for an open hall, always heated by the front lateral hall stack, with chambers above the service end and inner room. Documents of the Tinke family dated 1610 only refer to bed chambers above the parlour and buttery, possibly further supporting this theory.

In 1609 the Lord Chancellor arbitrated in an argument between Baldwin and John Tinke after the death of their father in 1608, and the house was divided in two, with two-thirds awarded to Baldwin.

The hall may have been ceiled sometime after 1610, and the detail of the ceiling beams copied from those of the inner room. The chamber above the hall was heated by a rear lateral stack. Probably contemporary with this, the two-storey porch was added, bearing the initials of Baldwin Tinke. In the 17th century a service room was added to the rear of the hall adjoining the turreted stair and heated by a side lateral stack. In the 18th century the house was further extended, probably with an outbuilding which continued to the rear of the higher stair projection parallel with the inner room. Sometime prior to 1840 the lower side of the house was demolished and partly rebuilt with a single-storey range.

Exterior

The house is two storeys. The regular three-window east front was built almost abutting a steep cliff on the left, with the ground sloping gently to the right. The two-storey porch is to the right of centre, and the lower service range on the right has been partly rebuilt. To the left of the porch, part of the front wall has been set forward in line with the projection of the front lateral hall stack, providing a form of hall projection containing the four-light hall window and a similar bay to the inner room, which is lit by a three-light mullion window. The hall window has hollow-chamfered and roll-moulded granite mullions and a quatrefoiled floral pattern in the label stops, and the inner room has simple chamfered granite mullions and 'O T' carved in the label stops. Set back on the left, a 19th-century part-glazed door leads directly into the inner room. Above the inner room and hall windows are two three-light granite hollow-chamfered mullion windows in gabled half-dormers. The roof structure above these windows appears to indicate that the gables are later than the main roof structure, therefore suggesting that either the windows were inserted or enlarged, or alternatively that they previously had raking roofs which were later altered.

The two-storey porch has a gabled end and a four-centred granite arch with hollow chamfer, slight roll mould and curved diagonal stops. The initials 'BT' are carved in the spandrels, and there is a late 19th- to early 20th-century door. The inner door has a depressed four-centred granite arch with chamfer, diagonal stops and a 19th-century plank door with chamfered ledges. A two-light mullion window in the first floor has hollow-chamfered mouldings. To the right of the porch, the lower service end has been remodelled as a single-storey range with a lean-to roof.

At the rear elevation there is a depressed four-centred granite arch to the passage with chamfer and diagonal stops. Possibly earlier masonry of the service range is partly incorporated in the rear wall.

Interior

The interior is largely complete, with chamfered timber lintels with cyma stops to door and window openings, and slate flag floors. There is a hole for a drawbar to the inner front entrance. The through passage has a thick wall on the lower side, and the screen on the higher side of the passage has been removed, although there is evidence of its position in the ceiling beam above. The five main beams to the hall and passage are substantial for a Cornish house and are chamfered with cyma stops. The secondary beams are morticed; over half are bow-tell moulded, the others possibly replaced. The hall fireplace is composed of jambs of granite and polyphant stone with a greenstone lintel, chamfered with diagonal stops and chamfered pentan to the rear. There is evidence of blocked openings in the rear wall of the hall. A small slate plaque set into the higher cross wall is inscribed 'W:PW:M'.

The inner room has a fireplace with chamfered granite lintel and jambs with diagonal stops, and three main cross beams with bow-tell moulded secondary beams of similar detail to the hall. A 17th-century cupboard in the cross wall has a scratch-moulded frame and later door with HL hinges. In the lower side of the passage there is a blocked opening with a late 16th- or 17th-century unmoulded timber door frame and the remains of three steps of a stone newel stair within. The service wing to the rear of the hall has a heavy chamfered ceiling beam similar in detail to the hall and parlour.

A stone stair with truncated timber newel post is located to the rear of the hall. The chamber above the inner room has a chamfered timber door frame and unmoulded granite fireplace. The chamber above the hall has been divided in two, with a 19th-century door-frame leading from the stair. The chamber was heated by a corbelled timber fireplace with chamfered timber lintel, run-out stops and corbelled chamfered and stopped timber brackets. A small chamber above the porch has chamfered timber lintels to door and window. There is a 17th-century chamfered timber door-frame to the chamber above the rear service wing.

Roof Structure

The two-bay roof structure above the inner room has a jointed face-pegged cruck truss, the joint visible only on the east side. The collar and principals are chamfered on the higher side, the apex is morticed and carries a diagonally set ridge, and the collar is dovetailed with double notch and lap-jointed onto the higher side of the principals. There are two tiers of trenched purlins, largely original, with original common rafters on the east side. The whole of this roof structure has been coated with a dark varnish.

The four-bay roof structure above the hall is identical in detail to that above the inner room. All the trusses are coated with a dark varnish with the exception of the lower truss (above the higher side of the passage), which is absolutely clean. This latter truss was definitely not a closing truss, and the purlins have been truncated, thereby proving that the roof structure above the passage has been completely altered. The roof structure above the porch was inaccessible.

The roof structure above the rear wing and turreted stair appears to have been altered. A jointed raised cruck truss spans this range with one side set in the thick wall to the rear of the stair projection and the other side open above the rear wing; the strange arrangement would appear to indicate the resetting of an earlier truss. The roof structure above the rear 18th-century wing also comprises several reused trusses, some with morticed apices but with roughly lap-jointed collars.

Historical Context

There is considerable documentary evidence relating to the Tinke family in the County Record Office, Truro. Welltown Manor is a particularly interesting and complete mid-16th-century house with remarkably well-preserved details. Welltown was also the home of John Herring.