Kestle

Kestle is a house dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, substantially remodelled and extended in the mid to late 17th century, again remodelled and possibly reduced in the early 19th century, and further altered in the 20th century. It is constructed of slate rubble with granite quoins and slate cills, and is roofed with Delabole slate and red clay ridge tiles, with a gabled roof over the right hand end of the main range and a hipped wing projecting to the left.

The building comprises a main range originally consisting of two equal-sized rooms divided by a central passage, now consolidated into one large room. Behind this lies an unheated outshut with a central staircase. At the lower left end there is a projecting cross-wing with its own lateral stack and a 20th-century staircase at the back. A parallel wing is set back at the rear on the left side, with a two-storey outshut in the angle in front on the lower left side of the cross-wing. An open-ended lean-to extends along the lower side of the rear wing.

The earliest phase of development is evidenced by three smoke-blackened arch-braced trusses with cranked collars over the lower left hand end of the main range, which demonstrate that at least four bays were originally open to the roof. The trusses appear to be middle crucks, though the feet are concealed and they could alternatively be base crucks, or the principals could be straight resting on wall plates. The upper sections of the principals are jointed to the base sections just above the collar, with vertical struts halved into the collar and principal clasping square-set purlins. The purlin work and rafters are now missing. A further clean truss with a roughly chamfered collar morticed to apparently straight principals covers the higher end of the main range, but the remaining roof over this section and the lower end has been replaced.

The mid to late 17th-century remodelling involved flooring the hall and dividing the main range into two rooms—a hall to the left and parlour to the right, separated by a cross-passage leading to a dog-leg staircase in the rear outshut, which was added at this time. A left hand cross-wing was added, possibly replacing the lower end and passage, and may have been balanced by another projecting wing at the higher right hand end. The rear kitchen wing parallel to the left hand cross-wing is probably an 18th-century addition.

A further remodelling in the early 19th century probably involved demolition of the putative right hand cross-wing, the addition of a two-storey outshut on the lower side of the left cross-wing, and a lean-to on the lower side of the rear kitchen wing. The house was refenestrated at this time and the interior was altered, including insertion of a further staircase at the back of the cross-wing. In the 20th century, internal partitions on the ground floor of the main range were removed, and other internal alterations were carried out at the lower left end. A single-storey glazed addition between the rear outshut and lower end rear wing dates to the late 20th century.

The front elevation is of two storeys with a 1:3 window arrangement. The three windows to the right of the front belong to the main range: two 20-pane first-floor sashes and a central 12-pane sash, with a slightly larger 20-pane sash at ground floor right and a very large tripartite sash to the left comprising 8:20:8 panes, all dating to circa the early 19th century. A central doorway has a circa early 18th-century six-panel door, the top four panels now glazed. The projecting wing to the left features one circa late 19th-century tripartite sash on each floor of 4:12:4 panes; the right hand side of the wing has a large stone rubble lateral stack, now truncated. At the right hand end is a 20th-century single-storey extension with a parapet ramped up to the end of the main range. At the junction of this addition with the right end of the range lies a large stone rubble buttress, possibly the remains of a wing at this end.

The rear elevation features a catslide roof over the outshut with a hipped dormer behind the main range to the left, a gable-ended wing to the right with a circular turret on the right hand corner, and an open-ended lean-to on the right hand side. Between the main range outshut and the rear right hand wing is a 20th-century glazed single-storey addition. The rear windows are largely 20th-century in date. At the lower left hand end is a two-storey outshut with a half-hipped roof in the angle with the rear wing.

Internally, the two rooms of the main range are now a single large space with few old features remaining, except for a fielded six-panel door at the back of the former passage leading to a good mid to late 17th-century dog-leg staircase in the rear outshut. This staircase has a moulded string, thick turned balusters, moulded handrail and square newels. Some early 18th-century two-panel doors survive on the first floor, and the right hand end chamber contains two small cupboards with shaped-head panels on its back wall. The staircase in the lower left end cross-wing was replaced in the 20th century.

Kestle was held by the Kestle family from the reign of King John until 1734, when it was sold by James Kestell of Polsue. Norden records it as the house of Thomas Keswell around 1585. The Hearth Tax Returns of 1666 record ten hearths at Kestle, the second largest number in the parish, indicating substantial prosperity at that date.