Description

SW 72 NE CONSTANTINE

9/56 Trenarth Barton

10.7.57

GV II

House. Formerly a farmhouse. Circa late C16, extended in circa late C18 and again
in early to mid C19 and C20. Granite and shale rubble with granite dressings. Slate
roofs with gabled ends. Brick shafts to gable end and lateral stacks.
Plan: Because of limited access at the tide of the survey in 1987 the plan
description is incomplete. The existing house has a courtyard plan. The main south
range was built in circa late C18 and it appears to have 2 principal rooms and a
central stairhall, all built over a cellar. The wing behind the left hand room is
part of the circa late C16 house, possibly containing the hall (Henderson); it has a
large gable end stack and was relegated to a rear service wing when the late C18 main
range was added. The rear wing to the right appears to have been built in circa
early to mid C19. There is a wall linking the 2 wings at the back with an arched
doorway into the small rear courtyard. On the outer left side of the left hand rear
wing there is a small C20 extension.
Exterior: 2 storeys. South west front of the late C18 range is symmetrical of 3
bays with very large tripartite sashes (4:16:4 panes) with flat arches of dressed
granite voussoirs and keyblocks and granite cills, the sashes replaced in the C20.
Central doorway with fluted pilasters to the doorcase which has panelled reveals and
a 6-panel door; the head of the doorway is obscured by a climbing plant and cannot be
seen. The whole of the ground floor of the front is enclosed within a large C20
wooden conservatory in classical style but the front of the house behind is intact.
Set back to the right with a lower roof level there is a short 2-storey 1-window wing
with C20 16-pane sash on the first floor and a C20 garden door on the ground floor.
At the rear a C20 16-pane first floor sash and below a flight of steps down to the
cellar doorway which has a chamfered granite frame. The stairwell projects to the
right in the angle with the rear wing, and has a very large late C18 or early C19 24-
pane sash with slate-hanging above.
The inner courtyard side of the rear (norh west) wing has asymmetrical fenestration
with hollow chamfered granite window frames, 2-light windows on the first floor,
their mullions missing and a 4-light window to the right with a king mullion and
hoodmould; to the left a chamfered depressed arch granite doorframe with long pyramid
stops and hoodmould; a small panel above in a granite frame, possibly made of lead,
with the arms of Trefusis impaling Trenerth and date 1656; C20 20-pane sash to the
left. The gable end of the north west wing has a large projecting stack with a
scrolled kneeler to the granite coping and a brick shaft. To the right of the stack
external stone steps to a C20 glazed first floor door in the gable. A short C20 wing
to the right on the outer west side of the north west wing.
On the opposite east side of the rear courtyard there are outshuts against the north
east wing. Across the north end of the rear courtyard a screen wall with slated
capping and a chamfered granite 4 centred arch doorway with diagonal stops to the
jambs.
Interior: was not accessible. There is a late C18 open-well staircase in the main
south range with an open string, turned balusters and moulded handrail ramped up to
column newels. Henderson mentions a "good Adam mantelpiece". There are probably
other interesting interior features in both the late C18 main range and the late C16
wing which may also have an early roof structure.
Trenarth was the seat of the Trenerth family. It passed in 1661 to Henry Trefusis of
Treviades qv, who married its heiress Ann Trenerth, qv. Trefusis chest tomb about
1.5 metres east of north aisle of Church of St Constantine. Trenarth passed from the
Trefusis to the Nicholas family in the early C18. C.S. Gilbert in 1820 refers to
Trenarth as belonging to Thomas Nicholls and describes it as "a handsome modern
building".
Source: Charles Henderson. A History of the Parish of Constantine in Cornwall.
pages 191 to 196.
G.S. Gilbert, Survey of Cornwall. Volume 1, page 780.

Listing NGR: SW7559328779

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26597679

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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair