Description

ST COLUMB MAJOR
SW 96 SW
7/179 Trewan Hall with attached garden
walls (formerly listed as Trewan
7.1.52 House and Dovecote)
GV II*

House with attached garden walls. C15 origin, with later alterations; fireplace
dated 1635, at the time of major enlargement of the house. C18 alterations and
restoration and alteration of circa 1870 by William White. Some C20 alterations.
Elvan stone rubble with granite dressings. Slate roofs with lead rolls to ridge and
gable ends. Axial stacks and rear lateral stack with granite shafts, shaped tops
with cornices.
Plan: The original plan of the house is not clear. It is an overall U-plan, with a
central double depth range with through passage, and the hall to rear right, heated
from a lateral stack, with the fireplace on the inner wall. The stair hall is to
front left. Attached to front right is a wing, which appears to have been partly
rebuilt in the C18, terminating in an early C17 gatehouse, with carriage entrance
running from right to left. Attached to front left is a symmetrical wing, probably a
C19 rebuilding. There is a further range attached to rear left, forming a cross
wing. There is a further range attached to rear left, forming a cross wing. The
garden walls are attached to rear and enclose a rear kitchen garden of roughly
rectangular plan.
Exterior: Asymmetrical 2 storey front with embattled parapet. The gable end of the
wing to right and left has stepped shaped gable, embattled, with obelisk finials;
moulded granite coping and granite quoins. The central range is of 5 bays; 4-centred
arched doorway to the passage with hood mould and C20 door. 2 bays to right with two
4-centred arched windows with hood moulds, first floor has two 2-light windows with
cusped lights and square hood mould. Above the door a similar single light. To left
is a 3-light C19 Perpendicular window with hood mould, lighting the stair. To end
left there is a 2-light cusped window at ground and first floor.
The wing to left is 2-storey; inner side has 4-light window with two transoms and
cusped toplights with hood mould to left. 4-centred arched doorway with hood mould
and C20 door to right. 2-light window with cusped lights and hood mould at first
floor. The gable end has 4-light window with transom tracery, 2-centred arch and
hood mould; single cusped light at the apex. Set back to left there is one bay with
2-light cusped window with hood mould at ground and first floor; embattled parapet.
The wing to right has front gable end with 2-light cusped window at ground floor, 3-
light Perpendicular window at first floor; single cusped light to attic. The inner
side of the wing has a carriage entrance at the end with 4-centred hollow-chamfered
arch, recessed spandrels with carved flowers, square hood mould with label stops.
First floor left a 2-light window with cusped lights, and to right a 2-light cusped
window with square hood mould.
The outer side of the wing is treated as a gatehouse, in granite ashlar, probably of
1635. The gatehouse is on a moulded plinth, with 4-centred arched double doorway
with roll-mouldings and recessed spandrels with carved leaves. Ionic column to right
and left supporting a moulded string course with 3 diamond dies, cill string at first
floor and 4-light window with hollow-chamfered mullions, 3 columns with convex caps.
Frieze above with carved dies and cornice; attic storey in a shaped gable with 3
columns of a primitive Ionic order with two blind round arched lights, carved frieze
and cornice above. The gable has obelisk finials set on four balls, 3 over the
centre of the gable of which 2 have carved strapwork.
The 4 bays to right are 2-storey, probably substantially rebuilt circa C18. Ground
floor has four 4-centred arched windows. with hood moulds, first floor has four 2-
light windows with cusped lights and square hood moulds. There is a gable end stack
to right; the axial stack to the gatehouse is in granite with carved panels to the
shaft.
The left side of the wing to left has two 2-light chamfered granite windows at ground
and first floor. There is a short section of rubble wall attached to left, with
granite merlons and 4-centred arched doorway; this screens the front of the house
from the yard at the left side. At the left side there are two 3-light chamfered
granite windows at ground floor and central pointed arched doorway with fanlight and
C20 door, set in late C19 brick gabled porch. Three 2-light chamfered granite
windows at first floor. Three is a range stepped forward to left, of 2 storeys, with
gable ends; the front gable end has single window at ground and first floor. The
left side has 3-windows at ground floor and two at first floor, built into the bank
at the rear, with a door at upper level to left. Granite ashlar gable end stack with
cornice.
At the rear there is a gable end to right and left, gable end to left with granite
ashlar stack with cornice; 2-span roof over the central range with a rubble stack
with cornice in the valley, which is the rear lateral stack for the hall. The
doorway to the passage has 4-centred arch with hood mould. Two bays to right with
two 2-light chamfered granite windows with hood moulds-at ground and first floor,
similar 3-light window above the door. The gable end to right has similar 2-light
window at first floor and single light at ground floor. To the left of the door are
two 4-centred arched Perpendicular style windows with hood moulds, of C19, lighting
the hall. The wing to right has two 2-light chamfered granite windows with hood
moulds, lighting the hall. The wing to right has two 2-light chamfered granite
windows at ground and first floor, with pointed arched doorway to left.
Attached to the wing to right is a short section of rubble wall, with pointed arched
doorway, connecting the house to the kitchen garden walls. The front wall of the
kitchen garden is in elvan stone rubble with slate coping and granite merlons, about
2½ metres high and about 60 metres long. There is a central gateway, opposite the
rear doorway to the house, with raised surround and embattled parapet raised over the
doorway. The walls enclose the kitchen garden to rear, in rubble and cob, with slate
coping; the walls do not extend fully around the garden, missing at the right side.
The garden is about 30 metres deep. At the far right end, the wall is raised over a
4-centred arched carriage entry, with embattled parapet carried over.
Interior: The front door opens into ann entrance hall which appears to have been
reconstructed on the line of the through passage in the late C19; to the rear there
is a stone vault with chamfered granite ribs and stone bosses with masks, similar to
the vestibule vault in Bank House (q.v.). There is a stone screen with 3 pointed
arches leading to the hall to rear right. The hall is open to the roof, of 4 bays
of C19, with arched braces. On the inner wall is a granite fireplace with segmental
arch and roll-mouldings and vestigial ogee, dated 1635. C19 dado panelling.
To front left of the entrance is the stair hall, with open-well stair with turned
balusters and chamfered newels, of C19. Interior not fully inspected.
The C19 remodelling of Trewan Hall maintains the character of a C17 house, and the
wing to left which completes the U-plan creates a symmetrical front. The gatehouse
is most interesting, in a transitional style between the Gothic and the classical; it
makes an interesting comparison with the Gatehouse at Lanhydrock House, which is a
close contemporary. The house formerly extended further to the left, with a room
which was reported in the early C19 to contain good plasterwork.

Listing NGR: SW9115664688

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Trewan Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17531487

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)