Pengold House and Pengold Cottage (Formerly Pengold Farmhouse), St. Gennys, Cornwall

Summary

Pengold Farmhouse, a farmhouse dating from the C17, with subsequent additions and alterations.

Description

Farmhouse, formerly a single house but now divided into two dwellings. The building has a C17 core, with a C18 wing and alterations and additions of the C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: built of slatestone rubble, the eastern section of the building is rendered. The original thatch of the pitched roof has been replaced with corrugated iron, and there are re-built brick stacks to the gable ends. The extensions have slate roofs. The windows are a mixture of C19 and C20 timber casements and sash windows.

PLAN: the south-facing C17 range, with the original hall to the west, is one room deep, with the C18 wing projecting southwards from the west end; there is a C20 lean-to addition in the angle between these two sections, providing an entrance lobby, and a 1930s bathroom extension to the west end of the building. A single-storey extension projects southwards from the east end of the building, extended further along the east elevation, and there is a single-storey addition against the east end of the south elevation. The division of the building comes between the first and second windows of the three-window main range, with two yards being formed in front of the dwellings, separated by low outbuildings, and completed by rubble walls to the south.

EXTERIOR: the south front of the original building is largely obscured at ground-floor level by the later additions. Two ground-floor windows remain visible; at first-floor level there is an enlarged window in the western part of the building, and in the eastern part of the building the two small square openings are thought to retain their original dimensions. The windows in the main range and the western wing have wooden lintels. The extension which covers the western entrance has received alteration in the later C20. The eastern doorway is preceded by a stone porch with a lean-to slated roof; this has been extended eastwards in the later C20 with a flat roof above a three-light window. The two-storey C18 wing has one window to each storey in the southern gable end, and two small ground-floor windows in the west elevation. The north elevation was originally blind, with four small windows having been inserted, one to the western section and three to the eastern section. The south-eastern addition appears to date from the C19, and is partly stone-built, but has been altered, part rendered, and extended to the east.

INTERIOR: the western part of the house consists of a ground-floor room, retaining a large fireplace with chamfered bressumer; the interior of the fireplace is now pebbledashed, covering two cloam ovens. Some of the chamfered ceiling beams with straight-cut stops have been cut at the north end, probably to accommodate furniture. The steep stair rises to the left of the chimney, with a timber partition, and a niche in the left-hand wall; the stair divides, giving access to the older part of the house to the west and the wing to the south. The upper room in the older part of the house has a small fireplace, now adapted as a cupboard, and there is a blocked doorway leading to the eastern part of the house. The lower, chamfered portions of the principal rafters are visible within the room. Above, the majority of the original sturdy roof structure remains, with the principals halved and pegged at the apex, and rafters pegged to the purlins and ridge purlin; newer timbers on top of the original structure support the corrugated iron covering. The older part of the house retains a number of good boarded doors of C18 and C19 date. In the wing, the ground floor is occupied by the kitchen, in which the Delabole slate floor has been lowered. Above the kitchen, the space is now divided in two, with the original pegged A-frame roof structure being exposed. This area was originally accessed from the south by a ladder-stair leading from the kitchen. The entrance lobby is floored with slate.

In the eastern part of house, the spaces are divided by C19 timber screens, with an older timber stair rising to the rear, and all the original doors. The majority of the joinery is thought to date from the second part of the C19, probably soon after the division of the house in 1860. The entrance, which has a boarded door with a glazed light inserted, opens into the main room which has a slated floor. There is a chimney-opening in the east wall, with a C19 timber shelf fixed to the bressumer; to the right of the fireplace, an alcove with a seat incorporated. A timber partition forms a second room to the west, now with a bathroom created at the western end; the former dairy to the rear contains a blocked doorway which once led to the western part of the house. Upstairs, two rooms, accessed by the stair, which divides after a short straight flight with a cupboard beneath, leading to a landing, with the rooms separated by timber partitions. In the eastern room, a fireplace is set into the side of the chimney-breast. The blocked opening to the western part of the house is visible in the western room. In these upper rooms, the principal rafters are partly exposed; these are very irregular in shape, and some of the timbers appear to be re-used. The roof has been boarded over in the C20. In the south-east extension, the floor is wooden, and there is a modern chimney-surround.

History

Pengold was recorded as a manor in the Domesday Book of 1086. The property at Pengold is known to have been inhabited by the Rogers family from 1531, or earlier. The current building is thought to date from the C17, with a number of subsequent additions and alterations. In 1860 the house was divided into two separate dwellings, and the building is now known as Pengold House and Pengold Cottage. The farm environs have changed considerably since the publication of the first edition Ordnance Survey map in 1888, with the addition of a number of agricultural and domestic buildings to the north, west, and south-west of the main house. Standing immediately to the north of the house is a small C17 building, formerly a cottage with attached outbuilding, which is listed at Grade II.

Reasons for Listing

Pengold House and Pengold Cottage are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date: as a farmhouse dating from the C17, and developed subsequently, retaining a substantial proportion of historic fabric
* Legibility: aspects of the evolution of the house and its use are legible within the remaining fabric of the building
* Internal features: the building retains a number of historic features, notably the complete pegged roof structure visible at the western end, the substantial western fireplace, and the complete C19 joinery in the eastern part of the house
* Group Value: with the listed former cottage with attached outbuilding, standing immediately to the north

External Links

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