Description

SW 7026-7126 CONSTANTINE

10/2 Bonallack Barton Cottages
Nos 1 and 2
10.7.57

GV II*

Wing of a larger house, converted into a pair of attached cottages. Probably C16
parlour wing of an earlier medieval house converted into a pair of cottages and
extended in late C19. Shale rubble with granite dressings. Grouted scantle slate
roof with gable ends and red clay ridge tiles. Lower scantle slate roof to single
storey wing at right hand end. 2 granite ashlar axial ridge stacks with moulded
cornices and weathered caps, red brick shaft to right hand end stack.
Plan: The existing building is a long single depth 2-storey range of 5 rooms and a
small single storey unheated 1-room plan wing set back at the right hand end. This
range is the result of a late C19 conversion to a pair of cottages from what was
probably the parlour wing of a substantial medieval house. The large parlour at the
left hand end of the existing range has an axial stack at its right hand end and a
large 8-light window at the front; the heated chamber above has a garderobe adjacent
to the stack. There is a smaller room to the right heated from a gable end (now
axial) stack, direct entry from a front doorway and a chamber above with access
through a doorway in the front wall, presumably originally with external stairs,
unless this door-way has been inserted later. The late C19 conversion involved
inserting partitions into the parlour and right hand room and the addition of a 2-
storey 1-room plan extension at the right hand end with a gable end stack, and also
the addition of a small single storey unheated wing set back at the extreme right
hand end.
G.S. Gilbert in 1820 described Bonallack: "The ruins of the house are extremely
picturesque. The great hall lately had considerable portions of stained glass, but
it is in a very ruinous state, as are also the chapel and other detached buildings".
None of these "detached buildings" survives but it seems that the surviving range is
only a wing of what must have been a quite substantial house, with a great hall and a
chapel, which was first licenced in 1374.
Exterior: 2-storeys. Long asymmetrical 5 window south east front. The 4 windows to
the left are the wing of the original house. The ground floor left hand window is a
very long 8-light granite mullion window with flat chamfers and a hoodmould. One
mullion has been removed and a plank door inserted, On the first floor above 2
smaller. 3-light mullion windows. To the right of centre of the original part a
double-chamfered 4-centre arch granite doorway with water-leaf type stops, now
blocked; a late C19 2-light casement to the right with glazing bars and a small
single-light casement with glazing bars above. To the right on the first floor a
double chamfered grantite centred arch doorway, partly blocked as a fixed-light
window with glazing bars. The 1-window range to the right has a late C19 2-light
casement on each floor with glazing bars, granite lintels and slate cills, and a
doorway to the left with a granite lintel and C20 plank door. Set back to the right
the single storey 1-window wing with a small sash.
The rear elevation is blank except for two C20 single-light casements and 2 late C19
sashes. The garderobe window to the right of centre on the first floor is blocked.
To the right a C20 concrete block outshut conceals a C19 door-day at the extreme right
hand end with a C19 4-panel door.
The straight masonry joint in the left hand (south west) gable end wall suggests a
blocked doorway.
Interior: The large parlour at the left end has a C19 partition to form a kitchen at
the left hand end; the C19 straight staircase against the partition has stick
balusters and a turned newel. There is a large granite fireplace at the right hand
end with a moulded 3-centred arch and moulded stops; large closely-spaced chamfered
ceiling cross-beams with hollow step stops and a very long moulded lintel to the
front window with alternating cavetto and ovolo mouldings. The chamber above the
parlour has a moulded granite basket arch fireplace with moulded stops and a nice
Victorian cast-iron grate. The small closet to the left of the fireplace was
probably the garderobe; it has a wooden doorframe with fern-leaf spandrels and a
small blocked window slit. The smaller room to the right is also partitioned and
divided between the 2 cottages; at the right end there is an original granite
fireplace with a deep chamfered Tudor arch, the stops are concealed.
Roof: The roof space was inaccessible; the feet of the principals were not visible
in the first floor rooms, therefore the roof structure may have been replaced in the
C19.
Bonallack was the seat of the Bonallack family until the C12 when it passed by
marriage to the Gerveys. It was held by the Gerveys family until 1671 when it passed
again by marriage to the Grylls. In circa 1860, Colonel S.M. Gryll established his
family seat at Lewarne, St Neat, and built a large house here, Bonallack Barton qv,
for his tenant James Tyacke; the old house by then had been reduced to farm-workers
cottages.
Source: Charles Henderson. A History of the Parish of Constantine in Cornwall.
pages 124 to 132
C.S. Gilbert. Survey of Cornwall. 1820, Volume 1, page 780

Listing NGR: SW7185626453

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17556081

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

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)