Penrose Manor House

Details

HELSTON

SW62NW PENROSE HILL 631-1/1/202 Penrose Manor House 24/03/50

GV II*

Country house. C17. For Penrose family, probably John Penrose d.1679, remodelled and extended from c1788 for John Rogers and c1832 for the Reverend John Rogers, extended 1863 by William Webb for John Jope Rogers, remodelled 1867, buttery added 1868 and centre of Loe elevation rebuilt 1927-28. Principal front Elvan ashlar with granite ashlar plinth, granite string and parapet, other elevations mostly Killas rubble with granite dressings, some slatehanging and some stucco within courtyard; scantle slate and dry slate roofs, mostly hipped, NW front with moulded parapet and C17 or early C18 battlements to left with many C17 crested ridge tiles to hipped roof above and gadrooned urn over left-hand corner; late C19 parapet and weather vane to SE corner and cast-iron ogee gutters, most with lions' heads, to SW front; irregularly disposed brick stacks with moulded cornices. C17 U-shaped plan front survives to NW incorporated into the present irregular square plan ranged around a small courtyard. Principal nearly symmetrical 1:2:3:2:2-bay NW front incorporating the original 2:3:2-bay front with blind bay addition on the left and 2-bay addition on the right and with 2-bay inner returns with blocked window openings; early and mid C19 hornless sashes with glazing bars. Central doorway with Tuscan pilasters surmounted by carved eagle which was formerly above the parapet; pair of late C19 two-panel doors. SW front is an overall 7-window range: wide 3-window projection on left with resited late C18 Venetian window right of centre; recessed 3-window central range; large octagonal 3-light bay on the right and stuccoed return of SE front, far right, with ventilated larder window to ground floor. Most windows are early/mid C19 hornless sashes with glazing bars; round-arched doorway towards left and doorway left of centre; early C20 doors. SE front is an irregular 7-window range with predominantly late C19 features including 4 gabled roof dormers and similar dormer to left-hand return. Centre 3-window range with mid C19 twelve-pane hornless sashes and central late C19 or C20 classical style doorway with 6-panel door; 3-window range on the left with later C19 or C20 twelve-pane horned sash over blocked doorway and flanking canted bays, the left-hand bay mid C19 with hornless sashes with glazing bars over a C20 garage projection and the other bay a late C19 or C20 horned copy over a similar but larger ground floor bay; late C19 Gothic-style bay to far right of SE front with 2-light mullioned windows with 8-pane hornless sashes. NE front is 2:6:1 bays with left-hand bays similar to return to SE front; central bays, rebuilt 1927-28, has 12-pane horned sashes and recessed splayed doorway on the right with 6-panel door flanked by 8-pane sashes; large early C19 two-storey 3-light bowed window at far right with 12-pane sashes divided by granite mullions. Courtyard has mostly mid C19 hornless sashes with glazing bars. INTERIOR: features include (from partial inspection only); C17 ovolo-moulded granite door jamb to rear of central passage. Right-hand wing of NW front retains early/mid C18 panelled room with fielded panels (later graining), doorway with dentils, 6-panel door, eared overmantel, moulded ceiling cornice and ceiling with panels with moulded ribs including round central panel with key pattern and acanthus rose; C18 chamber above with similar doorway and door, eared chimneypiece with key-pattern cornice and coved ceiling with dentilled cornice. Stair hall behind has large early C20 open-well staircase with heavy turned balusters. Chamber behind stair hall has C18 coved ceiling over a moulded cornice. Behind this chamber is the room with the octagonal bay with late C19 moulded and enriched classical style plasterwork. HISTORY: Penrose (or at least some land) was held by the Penrose family pre-1269. The estate grew as a result of various grants of land and inheritances some of which resulted from marriages linking the Penroses with other leading Cornish families including: St Aubyn, Tremayne, Methele, Erissey, Killigrew and Rashleigh. Hearth Tax records show that there were 13 hearths in 1664. Between 1750 and 1770 Penrose was bought by Hugh Rogers. His son John married Margaret, the daughter of Francis Basset of Tehidy, became MP for Penryn, was 6 times mayor and was deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall. Hugh Rogers and his son the Reverend John Rogers carried out many of the major alterations and additions at Penrose. John Rogers' eldest son John Jope Rogers became deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall and was MP for Helston from 1859-1865. Later eminent members of the Rogers family include John Lionel Rogers, born 1880, who married Caroline Ford of Pengreep and became High Sheriff of Cornwall. (Pascoe N: The Early History of Porthleven: Redruth: 1989-: 5; Squires S: Penrose Historic Survey: National Trust: 1986-).

Listing NGR: SW6412525775

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

385335

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Squires, S, Penrose Historic Society, (1986)
Pascoe, S N, The Early History of Porthleven, (1989), 5

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.