Trenethick Barton (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Trevenetheke

In the civil parish of Wendron.
In the historic county of Cornwall.
Modern Authority of Cornwall.
1974 county of Cornwall.
Medieval County of Cornwall.

OS Map Grid Reference: SW66802911
Latitude 50.11560° Longitude -5.26287°

Trenethick Barton has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Gatehouse or barbican and adjoining courtyard walls. C16. Built for the Hill family. Granite elvan and killas rubble walls. Granite ashlar gatehouse with granite dressings. Grouted scantle slate roof with gable ends. Stepped copings to walls. Plan: Small rectangular-on-plan gatehouse flanked by high walls, with wide gateway to the ground floor and small guardroom above with its doorway into the right-hand gable end approached by a steep flight of granite steps built against the inside of the courtyard wall. 2 storey gatehouse. Ground floor has wide 4-centred arched doorway with hoodmould. Old doors, probably C18 or early C19. Over the doorway the granite ashlar front is jettied out on a dressed granite corbel table. There is a central complete 3-light mullioned window with hoodmould. Under the window is the Hill coat of arms. The walls are very high on either side of the gatehouse and ramp down at either side. This gatehouse overlooked the former main highway (now disused) and is one of the most interesting C16 domestic buildings in Cornwall. (Listed Building Report)

During Norman and into the medieval period, the manor was the home of the Seneschall family and Walter Seneschall was a member of parliament in 1377. In 1392 the house, through his widow Margery, was assigned to the Hill family who took the Seneschall coat of arms which can still be seen on the front door to the house and on the gatehouse. The Hills were successful tinners and re-built the house as a stronghold for their valuables and legal documents. The current house was largely built by the Hill family in C15 and extended in C17, C18 and C19. The gatehouse was built as a semi-defensive building as part of a planned great house and was probably occupied by a guard in times of unrest. (http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk © Newsquest Media Group 2005)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1142019
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 425378.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 30100.10.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Doctor Who The Location Guide
Periodical Articles
- 1961 April, Country Life
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 28 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 25 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 33 online copy
  Henderson, C., 1914, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities. MS At RIC Vol. 1 p. 181

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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