Godolphin Estate

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 George Osborne, 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.David Tovey, Creating A Splash - The St. Ives Society of Artists - The First 25 Years (1927-1952) (Hilmarton Manor Press, 2003). 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 {{convert|550|acre|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.

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

Godolphin House is located at {{gbmapping|SW 601 318}}. Various events are held throughout the year. 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. The house is available as a holiday let for approximately three weeks each month when it is not open to the public.

Godolphin House is a listed building, recorded at the highest designation, Grade I.{{NHLE|num=1158437|desc=Godolphin House|grade=I|access-date=10 November 2024}} Three other structures on the estate, the stables,{{NHLE|num=1158586|desc=Stabling and cobbled pavements adjoining Godolphin House|grade=I|access-date=10 November 2024}} the forecourt walls,{{NHLE|num=1142259|desc=Forecourt walls, stiles and mounting block at Godolphin House|grade=I|access-date=10 November 2024}} and a blowing house used for the smelting of tin are also listed at Grade I.{{NHLE|num=1142264|desc=Blowing House and attached walls north-east of Blowing House Cottage on the Godolphin Estate|grade=I|access-date=10 November 2024}} A number of buildings on the wider estate have Grade II listings: two sets of gates and gatepiers on the drive to the house,{{NHLE|num=1142263|desc=Gate Piers and Flanking Walls at Approximately 600 Metres North of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}}{{NHLE|num=1311297|desc=Gate Piers and Gates at Approximately 200 Metres North of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}}

and some garden walls;{{NHLE|num=1328323|desc=King's Garden Walls, Rear Yard (South) Walls and Attached Buildings|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} three buildings related to the tin works, a counting house,{{NHLE|num=1142224|desc=Godolphin Count House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} a cottage attached to the Blowing House,{{NHLE|num=1158971|desc=Blowing House Cottage|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} and a pound which may have been used for the storage of gunpowder;{{NHLE|num=1328325|desc=Pound at Approximately 200 Metres West of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} and a range of ancillary agricultural buildings; a cider house,{{NHLE|num=1158908|desc=Cider House at Approximately 100 Metres North East of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} a piscina and parts of a cider press,{{NHLE|num=1142260|desc=Piscina and Apple Crusher at Approximately 11 Metres North of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} a piggery,{{NHLE|num=1158777|desc=Piggery at Approximately 100 Metres West of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} a barn,{{NHLE|num=1142261|desc=Barn and Mangel House at Approximately 100 Metres South West of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} a granary,{{NHLE|num=1311355|desc=Granary at Approximately 80 Metres South West of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} a cart shed,{{NHLE|num=1328324|desc=Cartshed at Approximately 80 Metres South West of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}} and two sets of farm buildings.{{NHLE|num=1158786|desc=Farm Buildings on West Side of Cow Yard, Including Cobbled Pavements at Approximately 200 Metres South of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}}{{NHLE|num=1142262|desc=Farm Buildings and Wall on East Side of Cow Yard Approximately 200 Metres South of Godolphin House|grade=II|access-date=10 November 2024}}

The Godolphin Estate is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cornwall/godolphin/history-of-godolphin|title=History of Godolphin|publisher=National Trust|access-date=10 November 2024}}

Image:Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg by Sir Godfrey Kneller]]

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{{Clarify|date=January 2025}} 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.{{cite journal|last1=Anon|title=Don't bet on snails|journal=Mollusc World|date=2006|issue=11|page=7}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite news

| last = Reynolds

| first = Nigel

| title = National Trust buys Godolphin House

| newspaper = The Daily Telegraph

| date = 9 August 2007

| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1559857/National-Trust-buys-Godolphin-House.html

| accessdate = 2013-03-10}}

{{cite web

| title = Holiday cottages - Godolphin House

| publisher = National Trust

| url = http://www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk/cottage/godolphin-house-011108/

| accessdate = 2013-03-10}}

{{cite news

| last = Kennedy

| first = Maev

| title = Holiday spirits: a spooky stay in a grand National Trust house

| newspaper = The Guardian

| date = 28 October 2011

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/oct/28/cornwall-godolphin-house-haunted

| accessdate = 2013-03-10}}

{{cite web

| title = Visitor Information - Godolphin - Events

| publisher = National Trust

| url = http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/godolphin/things-to-see-and-do/events/

| accessdate = 2013-03-10}}

{{cite book

| last1 = Pevsner

| first1 = Nikolaus

| authorlink = Nikolaus Pevsner

| isbn = 978-0140710014

| title = Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)

| year = 1970

| edition = 2nd

| last2 = Radcliffe

| first2 = Enid

| page = 73

}}

{{cite web

| title = Godolphin House, Breage

| publisher = English Heritage

| url = http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-65746-godolphin-house-breage

| accessdate = 2013-03-10}}

}}

{{Portal|Cornwall}}

{{Commons category|Godolphin House}}

• [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/godolphin The Godolphin Estate information at the National Trust]
• [https://archive.today/20130505131450/http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Gracious-lady-embodied-spirit-historic-Godolphin-House/article-219164-detail/article.html Local News - Mary Schofield - Previous Owner of Godolphin House]

{{Cornwall|state=collapsed}}

Category:Country houses in Cornwall

Category:Grade I listed buildings in Cornwall

Category:National Trust properties in Cornwall

Category:Historic house museums in Cornwall

Category:Gardens in Cornwall

Category:Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Cornwall

Category:Grade I listed houses

Category:Breage, Cornwall