Tregrehan House and Attached Steps and Parterre Walls with Urns, St. Blaise, Cornwall

Description

SX 05 SE ST BLAISE ST BLAZEY GATE

868-0/10/562 Tregrehan House and attached
steps and parterre walls with
urns (Formerly Listed as:
ST BLAZEY GATE
28/11/50 Tregrehan House)

GV II*

Country house. 1689 datestone on attic chamber fireplace and remodelled 1706 for Thomas Carlyon I, remodelled and extended late C18 by William Wood for Thomas Carlyon IV, further remodelled, reduced to the north and extended at either side of the front 1848-49 (plans 1845) by George Wightwick for Colonel Edward Carlyon; associated garden features by W Eden Nesfield, some remodelling and restoration also in 1969- 70. MA TERIALS: Pentewan stone ashlar front range, otherwise incised stucco or render except for the brick pavilions to rear left and right with rusticated granite quoins (left-hand wing later rendered); dry slate roofs, the hipped S front roof behind a dressed stone parapet with turned balustrades over the windows, the other roofs are mansard in form over sprocketed eaves which are the result of a modification when the parapets were removed in 1969-70; 2 rendered stacks over rear wall of front range and axial stack to rear of these. PLAN: evolved plan 3 rooms deep and 2 rooms wide flanking a central passage plus pavilion wings at rear left and right and projecting at rear. The earliest part of the house must be the E range which contains the 1680 dated fireplace and 2 rooms with early C18 features in the ground-floor rooms below. The next phase is of the pavilions and almost certainly the front range in its earlier form. It is likely also that the W range was also of this date or earlier but was remodelled in 1848-49 as was the front when it was extended at either side and heightened. The E doorway was fitted or resited at this date also. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics; symmetrical 1:5:1-bay front with end bays broken forward. 1969- 70 hornless sashes with glazing bars (like the mid C19 windows elsewhere in the house) replacing what were late C19 or C20 2-pane sashes. Central doorway with paired Ionic columns and entablature (resited from former colonnade along the front). Other features include plinth, mid-floor band and parapet with moulded cornice. Set well back on either side is a pair of pavilions with moulded granite framed open pediments incorporating the heads of Venetian windows above flat-headed ground-floor windows, those of the right-hand pavilion with blind sidelights and what may be the original 1st-floor sash with thick glazing bars, but with horns under the meeting rail (perhaps the result of a repair), the other pavilion with the sidelights later opened and the ground-floor window made into a Venetian window, also a canted bay added to its W side. W front has a central4-window range with doorway to its 3rd from left bay. Right of this is the 1-window range of the end of the S range with its central windows central to a forward break and otherwise detailed like the front. The other end of the S range has a 1-window-range flat front. E side of the house is also a 4-window range with its doorway on the right. This doorway has a fine wooden distyle Doric porch with fluted columns and tall entablature and open pediment fronting a round-arched doorway with concentric spoked cobweb fanlight and panelled door. Rear elevation has central doorway with window above and windows to ground and 1st floors on the left, plus a tall round-arched stair window with intersecting glazing bars to its head. INTERIOR has features representing all of its principal periods of development including some very fine early C18 and mid C19 features. There is C17 granite fireplace with 1680 date in relief to an attic chamber in the E range. This is above 2 parlours with fine early C18 plaster ceilings with moulded ribs and moulded cornices, the S room also has its bolection-moulded panelling and chimneypiece. A passage rear of these rooms has a late C18 moulded ceiling cornice. This passage leads to a small stair hall (left of the pavilion) with a late C18 open-well staircase with turned balusters. There are some eared chimneypieces on the 1st floor also probably late C18. The former cross passage through the centre of the house was opened up c1848 to its W side adjoining the rear reception room and has a 2-bay round-arched arcade with Ionic columns in place of the former partition and there is a similar arcade rear of this room where it meets a stair hall. In this area are limestone flagged floors and enriched modillion ceiling cornices including a cornice expressing the space under the stair landing. The large open-well staircase has turned balusters and the moulded handrail is scrolled over the newel. The very fine ceiling of the reception room has a coved vault with intersecting plaster ribs over a reeded band with corner blocks. This room and the reception room in front have very fine chimneypieces back to back on the wall between. The one in the front room (of the two) has a good hob grate and a Royal coat of arms above; the other chimneypiece is Ionic. The front range has a central octagonal vestibule with a plaster vaulted ceiling. Left of this is a subdivided drawing room which has modillion cornices. On the right is the library with its original c1848 oak bookcases and acanthus detail to an elaborate ceiling cornice. All the rooms inspected have chimneypieces, some have cast-iron grates and there are panelled mahogany doors to the reception rooms. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: stone steps to each of the entrance doorways and low ashlar parterre walls to S front with urns to central gap to lower steps flanked by urns and there are ball finials at either end of the walls. Tregrehan is an evolved house but one which apparently was a double-depth or double-pile (east-west axis) right from the beginning when rebuilt in 1680. This plan type is extremely rare at this date in Cornwall. It is fortunate that there are good quality features surviving from all the main periods.
(Rawlings R, Inspector for HBMC: Tregrehan, St Blazey, Cornwall: Proposed (TT Exem. & Maint. Fund; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Cornwall: London: 1990-: 224).

Listing NGR: SX0516553530

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