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Godolphin Estate

Coordinates: 50°08′17″N 5°21′30″W / 50.138°N 5.3584°W / 50.138; -5.3584
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For the thoroughbred horse racing stables, see Godolphin Racing. For the English politicians, see Earl of Godolphin and Colonel Sidney Godolphin.
Godolphin Estate
Godolphin House
TypeCountry house
LocationGodolphin Cross, Breage, Cornwall, England
Coordinates50°08′17″N 5°21′30″W / 50.138°N 5.3584°W / 50.138; -5.3584
OS grid referenceSW 60129 31840
AreaCornwall
Built15th–17th centuries
OwnerNational Trust
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameGodolphin House
Designated10 July 1957
Reference no.1158437
Official nameGodolphin
Designated15 December 1999
Reference no.1001443
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameStabling and cobbled pavements adjoining Godolphin House
Designated26 August 1987
Reference no.1158586
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameForecourt walls, stiles and mounting block at Godolphin House
Designated26 August 1987
Reference no.1142259
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBlowing House and attached walls north-east of Blowing House Cottage on the Godolphin Estate
Designated14 September 1984
Reference no.1142264
Godolphin Estate is located in Cornwall
Godolphin Estate
Location of Godolphin Estate in Cornwall

The Godolphin Estate is a National Trust property situated in Godolphin Cross, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-west of Helston in Cornwall, England. The house is a Grade I listed building.

History

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The estate was the seat of the Dukes of Leeds and the Earls of Godolphin. It contains a Tudor/Stuart mansion, complete with early formal gardens, dating from c. 1500, and Elizabethan stables of around 1600. The present house is the remnant of a larger mansion. From 1786 it was owned by the Dukes of Leeds who never lived there. In 1920 the 10th Duke of Leeds sold it to the sitting tenant Peter Quintrell Treloar. After Treloar died in 1922, the following year his wife sold it to James Penna, an agricultural engineer. Penna died in 1926 and his son James Henry lived there until his death in 1935. In that year it was bought C.B. Stevens, a local man, who sold the house and estate to artist Walter Elmer Schofield in 1937.[1] Schofield's architect son Sydney restored the mansion, and received it as a wedding present from his parents. In 2000, his widow, Mary Schofield, sold the wider estate to the National Trust, and in 2007 the Trust bought the house, gardens and farm-yard. The Trust carried out a major conservation project of the architecture of the North Range (the historic front) to prevent it from further decay and collapse. The house is open to the public on certain days. The estate measures 550 acres (220 ha) and includes Godolphin Hill which provides views over west Cornwall. More than four hundred recorded archaeological features range from Bronze Age enclosures to 19th-century mine buildings. The Trust has been improving public access to the Estate.[2]

The large village of Godolphin Cross (sometimes Crossroads), in the parish of Breage, adjoins the estate to the east. Amenities include a primary school.

House and gardens

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Godolphin House is located at grid reference SW 601 318. Various events are held throughout the year.[3] The house is approached from the north and consists of three wings around a square courtyard and the front wall of a further building on the south side. The main buildings originally stood to the south of this with two projecting wings. One room of the 16th-century remains in the east range; this has linenfold panelling. Opposite the hall range is the Jacobean range; the north side is castellated and has a loggia of seven bays on the ground floor. Stylistic features here appear to be of the mid 17th-century and suggest that the accepted date for the house of after 1712 is very unlikely.[4][5] The house is available as a holiday let for approximately three weeks each month when it is not open to the public.[6][7]

Historic listing designations

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Godolphin House is a listed building, recorded at the highest designation, Grade I.[8] Three other structures on the estate, the stables,[9] the forecourt walls,[10] and a blowing house used for the smelting of tin are also listed at Grade I.[11] A number of buildings on the wider estate have Grade II listings: two sets of gates and gatepiers on the drive to the house,[12][13] and some garden walls;[14] three buildings related to the tin works, a counting house,[15] a cottage attached to the Blowing House,[16] and a pound which may have been used for the storage of gunpowder;[17] and a range of ancillary agricultural buildings; a cider house,[18] a piscina and parts of a cider press,[19] a piggery,[20] a barn,[21] a granary,[22] a cart shed,[23] and two sets of farm buildings.[24][25]

The Godolphin Estate is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[26]

Local lore

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Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin

A custom first recorded in the 18th century, but which may date to the 14th, was enacted yearly on Candlemas day (2 February) until 1921. Godolphin and St Aubyn wagered their respective seats on a race between two snails; Godolphin, losing, pricked his snail which curled up and lost the race. St Aubyn instead of claiming Godolphin's estate imposed an annual custom. The reeve of Lambourne knocked on the door of the great hall of Godolphin Court and demanded to be let in. He would jump on the table and demand 'rents duties and customs'. These were paid in a large quart of strong beer, a loaf of wheaten bread and cheese of similar value and 2s 8d.[27]

References

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  1. ^ David Tovey, Creating A Splash - The St. Ives Society of Artists - The First 25 Years (1927-1952) (Hilmarton Manor Press, 2003).
  2. ^ Reynolds, Nigel (9 August 2007). "National Trust buys Godolphin House". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Visitor Information - Godolphin - Events". National Trust. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  4. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (1970). Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) (2nd ed.). p. 73. ISBN 978-0140710014.
  5. ^ "Godolphin House, Breage". English Heritage. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Holiday cottages - Godolphin House". National Trust. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  7. ^ Kennedy, Maev (28 October 2011). "Holiday spirits: a spooky stay in a grand National Trust house". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  8. ^ Historic England. "Godolphin House (Grade I) (1158437)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  9. ^ Historic England. "Stabling and cobbled pavements adjoining Godolphin House (Grade I) (1158586)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  10. ^ Historic England. "Forecourt walls, stiles and mounting block at Godolphin House (Grade I) (1142259)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  11. ^ Historic England. "Blowing House and attached walls north-east of Blowing House Cottage on the Godolphin Estate (Grade I) (1142264)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  12. ^ Historic England. "Gate Piers and Flanking Walls at Approximately 600 Metres North of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1142263)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  13. ^ Historic England. "Gate Piers and Gates at Approximately 200 Metres North of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1311297)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  14. ^ Historic England. "King's Garden Walls, Rear Yard (South) Walls and Attached Buildings (Grade II) (1328323)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  15. ^ Historic England. "Godolphin Count House (Grade II) (1142224)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  16. ^ Historic England. "Blowing House Cottage (Grade II) (1158971)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  17. ^ Historic England. "Pound at Approximately 200 Metres West of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1328325)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  18. ^ Historic England. "Cider House at Approximately 100 Metres North East of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1158908)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  19. ^ Historic England. "Piscina and Apple Crusher at Approximately 11 Metres North of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1142260)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  20. ^ Historic England. "Piggery at Approximately 100 Metres West of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1158777)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  21. ^ Historic England. "Barn and Mangel House at Approximately 100 Metres South West of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1142261)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  22. ^ Historic England. "Granary at Approximately 80 Metres South West of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1311355)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  23. ^ Historic England. "Cartshed at Approximately 80 Metres South West of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1328324)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  24. ^ Historic England. "Farm Buildings on West Side of Cow Yard, Including Cobbled Pavements at Approximately 200 Metres South of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1158786)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  25. ^ Historic England. "Farm Buildings and Wall on East Side of Cow Yard Approximately 200 Metres South of Godolphin House (Grade II) (1142262)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  26. ^ "History of Godolphin". National Trust. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  27. ^ Anon (2006). "Don't bet on snails". Mollusc World (11): 7.
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