Description

BODMIN

SX0767 CASTLE STREET
629-1/2/14 (West side)
26/03/49 Tower Hill Farmhouse and attached
walls and gate piers
(Formerly Listed as:
CASTLE STREET
Tower Hill Farmhouse)
(Formerly Listed as:
CASTLE STREET
Garden walls at Tower Hill Farmhouse)

GV II

Farmhouse. C17 with 1614 datestone resited, remodelled c1700
and early/mid C18.
MATERIALS: local rubble with timber lintels and some granite
moorstone including some reused C17 fragments; rag slate and
scantle slate roofs, hipped to front end of wing and at far
right; a C17 crested clay ridge tile over gabled rear rubble
lateral stack on right, another rubble lateral stack
heightened with brick shaft left of centre, another left of
front wing and brick gable stack on the left.
PLAN: long T-shaped plan with scullery kitchen at far left
with later lean-to pantry behind; kitchen/living room
(possibly the original hall) with later lean-to porch behind;
stair hall with cross passage on the left to small rear pantry
attached left of the wide staircase; parlour wing at
right-angles in front of pantry and passage; main doorway into
lobby in front of staircase; principal parlour on right with
lateral fireplace and later wing with no internal access at
far right.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; irregular overall 6-window range. C18
twelve-pane hornless sashes with thick glazing bars 2nd from
left and over porch, early/mid C19 hornless sashes to left to
centre of wing (each floor) and paired sashes to each floor on
right; early C19 30-pane 3-light casement to ground floor
left; C20 copy under 2nd window and C20 twelve-pane horned
sash to far right. Also to right-hand return of parlour is
re-opened squint window with C20 casement. Masonry joint
between right-hand wall of wing and rest of wing.
Main doorway right of wing with C18 panelled door with fielded
panels; early/mid C19 open porch 1-bay wide and 3-bays deep
carried on square wooden posts with elliptical arches between
and low-pitched roof which slopes down to the left. Another
doorway between left-hand windows with late C19 planked door
and slate hood on wooden brackets; also 4-panel door to
right-hand wing. Datestone under eaves above principal
chamber. Rear has several old windows including a tall C18
18-pane sash with thick glazing bars and some early C19 sashes
with glazing bars. Rear porches have panelled doors. Left-hand
return has blocked doorway; right-hand return has early C19
16-pane sash.
INTERIOR: except for recent fitting of an electricity supply
the interior has been unaltered for at least a century and
retains most of its C18 structural features including
undulating floors, studwork partitions and hardwood roof
structures with lapped and pegged cranked collars and
serpentine-shaped collars to slightly steeper roof of wing;
many 2-panel doors, the attic door with an unusual spring
latch.
Parlour of c1700 has bolection-moulded 2-panel door, moulded
ceiling cornice and central oval with acanthus rose; late C19
chimneypiece with tiled grate in possible C17 fireplace.
Chamber over parlour has bolection-moulded chimneypiece, with
late C19 grate, and plain plaster barrel ceiling. Front
parlour has two C18 cupboards set into space continued from
the masonry wall, and curved at the stair hall side;
shouldered, round-arched panelled doors. Stair hall has wide
C18 dogleg staircase with C19 stick balustrade.
Kitchen/living room has brick-lined fireplace with early C18
moulded cornice and panelled overmantel surviving from its
chimneypiece, splayed cupboard, possibly a former window, on
the right and 3-leaf window shutters to wide front window.
Scullery/laundry room has C18 or early C19 fireplace with
copper and a cloam oven on its right; water trough set into
wall by front window. Slate floors. Pantry by the staircase
has C19 shelves and wooden ventilator over the partition. At
the rear of the house and running through all the extensions
is a slate-covered land drain, some of the slates have incised
decoration.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: rubble wall adjoining at right-angles to
front right of left-hand doorway, continuing with slate
monoliths and low rubble wall in front of remainder of house
with pair of granite gate piers on the right.
Garden walls at Tower Hill Farmhouse listed 8/6/72.

Listing NGR: SX0728667123

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26501489

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)