Penfound Manor

Details

SX 29 NW POUNDSTOCK

10/124 Penfound Manor (formerly listed as
26.9.51 Penfound)

GV II*

Manor house, now house. C15 or earlier, C17 remodelling, 1950 alterations and
additions. Dressed stone to porch, quoins to left hand wing, the C15 hall masonry
of very small dimensions, granite dressings and bitumen painted rag and scantle
slate roofs with gabled ends. Stone chimneys with drip courses and tapering top at
left. 6-bay medieval hall with C17 added lateral stack at rear, the hall now
ceiled. 3-room and through passage plan consisting of hall, cross passage with
single storey porch, heated room to right known as 'little hall' and further
unheated room to right. C16 heated parlour added in projecting left front gabled
wing with solar above. In C17 parlour remodelled, 'little hall' heated and kitchen
added behind 'little hall'.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical 1 + 5 window front with front left wing with gabled ends.
Break in masonry on front marks the end of the medieval hall. Off-centre gabled
stone porch with rag slate roof to right of hall. Porch has 4-centred, arched
granite moulded doorway with double broach stops with central ball motif. Square
headed hoodmould with label stops, granite inscription carved in relief in
spandrels reads "IN THE YEARE 1642". C17 sundial in porch gable. Ground floor
window in front left wing tall 4-light hollow chamfered granite mullioned window
below timber lintel, leaded panes. Massive projecting lateral stack with tall
stone shaft on right return of wing. 4-light hall window to left of porch late
C18/early C19 casement with leaded panes. 2 ground floor windows to right of porch
2-light casements with leaded panes, both Under timber lintels. Ground floor
window right 3-light hollow-chamfered granite mullioned window. First floor window
in front wing 2-light casement with C20 leaded panes. Small window above porch is
a raking dormer rising slightly above the eavesline with a 2-light casement with
C20 leaded panes. 3 first floor windows to right of porch are ?-light casements
with C20 leaded panes. Lateral projecting stack to rear, heating hall, is
buttressed. Rear wall of hall also buttressed. Porch has 4-plankstudded inner
front door of circa mid C17 with moulded doorframe. Porch roof pegged collar
rafter, the timbers re-used.
Interior : Floor of through passage has cobbles laid in decorative pattern. Hall
has raised floor, early C20 fireplace partly conceals chamfered granite jambs. C17
frieze of ornamental plasterwork of leaves and grapes, probably restored, runs
along top of hall walls. Hall floor below floorboards said to cover earlier floor
of sheeps' knuckles. Parlour has large fireplace with C17 ovolo-moulded fireplace
beam with double step stops, the inner stops decorated. Fireplace recently
uncovered at time of survey 1984 and thought to conceal earlier fireplace. Narrow
plaster frieze of grapes on parlour walls. Late C17/early C18 6-panel door leads
from parlour to stair to solar. Staircase probably early C17 with turned
balusters. Little hall has brick floor, partially blocked fireplace and open frame
of timber studs to early depression imperial stair with fine, unusually heavy
turned balusters. Large depression in floor between little hall and passage
formerly contained running water conducted under the house by drains. Depression
now filled with concrete rubble to allow easier access to passage. Ground floor
room to right of little hall has slate floor and roof supported by 2 boxed-in RSJ's
replacing former cross beams which were said to have been supported by 2 granite
monoloith shafts now used to support rear porch canopy. Vine carving above window
to front. Former kitchen in rear wing has early C20 fireplace with probably C17
granite lintel visible above. Wide 2-panel C17 door between kitchen and little
hall. First floor rooms above lower end have ovolo-moulded doorframes. 2 late C17
Pine 9-panel doors. Former hall gallery above through passage has fireplace with
an ovolo-moulded stopped fireplace beam, plaster frieze of grapes on walls. 1950
bathroom above 1950 kitchen at lower end entirely painted and signed 1950 by David
Gentleman, the graphic designer of postage stamps. 2 bay roof above solar probably
C16 or earlier has collars mortised into principals and 2 tiers of threaded
purlins. Roof above hall consists of 4 probably C15 smoke-blackened arched brace
trusses with chamfered braces, queen struts, square set purlins and yoke.
Principals have curved feet, resting on wall plate and are jointed at collar level
(q.v. Froxton, Whitstone parish). 1 truss has failed, others are repaired with
iron straps. Smoke-blackened rafters largely concealed by foam insulation. Roof
beyond through passage raised, but survival of similar truncated smoke blackened
truss beyond stack to little hall suggests original length of 6 bays, 1 truss
removed when stack was inserted. Truncated truss retains smoke-blackened studs for
partition below collar. The raised roof consists of 1 probably C17 truss with
chamfered, cambered collar, formerly with trenched purlins, and 3 further pegged
trusses, probably also C17 with straight collars (1 missing) halved and pegged into
principals. Penfound is a Domesday manor and was held by the wife of Edward the
Confessor before it passed to the Count of Mortain. William Penfound was MP for
Bodmin in 1431 and 1432 and in 1588 Carew records the Penfound family as "among the
chief gentry of the County". The house was altered in the early C20 when
fireplaces were concealed and internal doorways were replaced with heavy stone
arches.


Listing NGR: SX2209899731

Legacy

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Legacy System number:

64926

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LBS

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