Trerice

A large manor house built in phases between the 15th and 16th centuries, with major work undertaken in 1570–73. The building is constructed of St Columb elvan ashlar with granite dressings and roofed in Delabole slate.

The architectural development began with Phase I, possibly built for Sir John Arundell I (died 1471), comprising a tower house with a low north-west block, though this phase is now largely hypothetical. Early in the 16th century, probably by Jack of Tilbury, a two-storey range was added to the south-east of the earlier tower, the two elements together forming the present bulky south wing.

The major intervention came in 1570–73 when Sir John Arundell IV, High Sheriff of Cornwall and father-in-law to the historian Sir Richard Carew, added the main range in 'E'-plan form. This comprises a central porch to a screens passage, with the hall to the left, services (now a shop) to the right, and an open cloister walk at the rear. The rear cloister features a projecting polygonal stair tower providing access to a long gallery. To the earlier south range, Sir John IV added a large two-storey bow window serving the parlour, later library. The rear was remodelled in the 20th century. The north-east end of the main Elizabethan work was demolished around 1860 except for the lower two floors of the outer walls, and was rebuilt in 1954.

The main elevation presents two storeys and attics, with a central three-storey porch containing a moulded square outer doorcase with a four-centred arch and leaves in the spandrels, with label moulding and square stops. The first-floor chamber is lit by a four-light stone hollow-chamfered mullioned window with flush relieving arches and key block to the upper lights. The attic contains three lights set within a shaped gable resting on lion-headed corbels, topped with a small crowning cornice featuring a palmette crest. The great hall window to the left is of eight lights with two transomes and a central hollow-chamfered king mullion, retaining many early plain quarries. The wings to either side of the porch each contain four-light ground-floor windows, three-light first-floor windows, and two-light attic windows within identical shaped gables. Between the wings and porch runs a central parapet with multiple convex shaped gables. A continuous string course passes over all first-floor windows; all work above this level to the right of the porch was demolished in 1830 and rebuilt in 1952–54.

Attached to the left wing is a wider two-storey parlour wing of early 17th-century date with a parallel ridge. The south front of this wing has been altered to present irregular fenestration through the inclusion of 16- and 24-paned sashes, though the original half-round two-storey bay survives, built on a battered base with a 20th-century garden entrance on the first floor, set back above the string line to an eight-light transomed window with moulded eaves and a hipped roof topped with a ball finial. The rear section of the added south wing is of killas rubble with a single-storey outbuilding at right angles. A three-bay wing is added to the rear of the 17th-century wing, probably dating to the later 17th century, and includes stone mullioned windows and a lean-to on part of the north side.

The rear elevation has been remodelled in the 20th century. The ground floor features a central entrance to a cross passage within a segmental chamfered opening with an inner door having wave moulding. Close-spaced chamfered arched openings, originally open but now glazed with three- and four-light sash windows, light the ground floor. Five large hipped dormers with leaded timber casement windows light the upper storeys. The stair tower on the right contains an arch to the added wing, which retains an offset buttress.

The shaped gables and bow window are notably precocious features for 1570–73 and may represent alterations by Richard Arundell around the 1640s.

The interior contains a great hall rising through two floors and paved with elvan tiles. The walls are plastered and lined to resemble ashlar. A stone Tudor fireplace features triangular blind spandrels and an imposing plaster overmantel dated 1572 with strapwork panels and end supporters in the form of male and female herms. A plaster frieze with running scrolls and a small arcade on square piers sits over the passage screen wall. The ceiling is an especially fine plaster example with two major pendants and scrolled ribs with fleur enrichments, minor pendants, and the initials of Sir John, his sister Margaret, and his wife Katherine.

The library lies lower by three steps at the south end of the hall, opening directly from it. It is lit by the central bow window and has a simple cornice. Its fireplace has marble slips and an eared surround in circa 1720 style, likely a reproduction.

The left wing contains a 19th-century staircase with widely spaced turned balusters and a ribbed plaster ceiling. The first-floor drawing room or great chamber displays an impressive segmental plaster vault ribbed with six pendants. The bow window also carries a plaster ceiling with quarter-columns at the bay arrises. The fireplace is of elvan stone with a four-centred arch and blind spandrels. Its plaster overmantel bears the Arundell arms flanked by male and female warriors, with a frieze reading "ANNO DOMINI MCCCCCLXXIII" and elaborate scrollwork with blank shields around the room.

The gallery opens off the end of the chamber under a shallow segmental vault with ribs and floral motifs at the intersections. The stair tower contains a stone newel stair. The service wing was entirely remade in the 1950s and retains stone doorcases.