The Postcard
A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name. The image is a glossy real photograph, and the card, which was printed in Great Britain, has a divided back.
It looks as if the height of the four-poster bed has been reduced so that it can fit under the sloping ceiling.
Poundstock
Penfound Manor is near Poundstock, which is a hamlet on the north coast of Cornwall. The hamlet is situated four miles (6.5 km) south of Bude, and is about one mile from the coast.
The population of the parish in the 2001 census was 805, increasing to 925 at the 2011 census.
The manor of Poundstock was recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) when it was held by Jovin from Robert, Count of Mortain.
Penfound Manor
Penfound manor house is built round a large medieval hall whose roof has collar-beams on arched braces. It is the oldest continually inhabited manor house in Britain, and is a private home to this day.
Additions to the hall are a massive chimney-stack in the north wall and a small room with solar above at the southwest corner.
The windows are Tudor, and the entrance porch has a granite doorway with an inscription of 1642. East of this are an inner hall which contains a 17th.-century staircase, and a former dairy, built in Stuart times.
One observer has commented:
“The old house has become as much a part
of the natural landscape as the ancient beeches,
elms and oaks which surround it. Its grey stones
have seen the centuries step by, and the house
has become gracious with time.”
The house dates from various different periods, (Norman, Elizabethan and Stuart), the earliest part being the medieval hall, but the manor itself was actually founded back sometime during the Saxon period.
At one time Penfound Manor belonged to Edith of Wessex, the wife of the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor and sister of King Harold. After Harold’s defeat at the Battle of Hastings, the manor was given to Robert, Earl of Mortain, the half-brother of William the Conqueror.
The Earl of Mortain was actually one of the largest landowners in Cornwall at the time the Domesday Book was written in 1086; it was recorded that he owned no less than 248 manors including Penfound.
Sabine Baring-Gould wrote in 1898:
“In a dip in the land, at the source of a little
stream, snuggling in the fold of a down,
bedded into foliage, open to the sun, hummed
about by bees, twinkled over by butterflies, lies
this lovely old house.”
Several generations of the Penfound family, who actually took their name from the manor rather than the other way around, lived in the house for roughly 600 years, from the 12th. century until the 18th. century.
Nicholas Penfound was born around 1600, and was the son of Thomas Penfound. It is said that it was Nicholas who enlarged the manor house in the 17th. century, (although this may also have been a relation called Arthur Penfound).
The Civil War
Nicholas is best remembered however for taking part in the Civil War battle at Stratton in Cornwall on the 16th. May 1643. This was also the day he died.
During the early days of the Civil War, Cornwall was under Royalist control, but all that was in jeopardy when in May 1643 a Roundhead army crossed the Tamar and prepared to attack.
The force of 5,400 infantry, 200 horse, 23 cannon and a great mortar was commanded by the Earl of Stamford. The Cornish leaders, Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir Bevil Grenville, were outnumbered, with less than 3000 men with them when they attacked Stamford’s army on a hill near Stratton.
The battle lasted for hours, but eventually the Cornish were victorious. Nicholas Penfound, however, a staunch supporter of the king, was sadly killed in the fighting.
Nicholas’ son Thomas inherited, and legend has it that he planted a Judas Tree in the garden of Penfound manor as a symbol of Thomas Cromwell’s betrayal of King Charles. That tree was still standing 300 years later in 1909 when it was mentioned in a local newspaper article, then sadly in 1930 it was struck by lighting and had to be removed. A sundial now stands in its place in the courtyard.
The Penfounds’ royalist allegiances got them into trouble again in the 18th. century. There are no Penfounds in Penfound Manor today, because in 1759 they had their home and land confiscated by the Crown as a result of their support for the reinstatement of the Stuart line. The last of the Penfound line, Henry Penfound, is said to have died in the local poor house in 1847.
The Manor has plenty of unusual architectural features. These include medieval oak doors and stained glass from the 15th. century as well as granite archways with the initials of generations of the Penfounds carved into the stonework.
The Illustrated London News commented in 1969:
“Wrapped in story from its cobbled entrance
to its crooked chimneys, Penfound wears its
history like a comfortable grey mantle, but not
a history of ‘old, unhappy, far-off things’, of
statesmen, politicians and warriors, Penfound’s
is the quiet, domestic history of Cornish
gentlemen, of a country family adsorbed in the
business of living, washed by the tides of their
times, but rarely swept away by them.”
The Oak Staircase
One of the most striking features is the ancient oak staircase which is reputed to have been made from the timbers of a Spanish galleon wrecked around the time of the Armada (there is no suggestion that it was one of THE armada ships however). The ship was grounded at Widemouth Bay, and the salvaged wood brought to the house and used to build the stairs in c1589.
The age of the staircase is quite obvious from the uneven, crooked treads which apparently creak so loudly that a previous owner referred to them as an excellent burglar alarm!
The Hidden Bottles
Another strange feature can be found in the Great Hall. The room has a huge fireplace, and deep inside the chimney breast there is said to be a shelf with two bottles standing on it.
These bottles, legend has it, are filled with Holy Water from the River Jordan brought back to Cornwall from the crusades by a member of the Penfound family to replace an earlier talisman.
The Eastern Times reported on the 24th. September 1909:
“The bottles were put there in place of a bullock’s
heart which previously rested there and had dried
up after years of duty. That office was to keep off
the influence of the Evil Eye which had been
supposed to trouble the Penfound family.”
It was also said that if the bottles were ever removed, then the chimney would collapse, so, perhaps wisely, it seems that no owner of the house was prepared to take that risk.
The Ghost of Kate Penfound
Kate, the daughter of Arthur Penfound (possibly Nicholas) and his wife Sibilla, was born in about 1621. She is said to have fallen in love with John Trebarfoote of Trebarfoote Manor, the family’s neighbours a few miles away.
The two families had long-standing martial connections and a friendly relationship, but unfortunately a terrible rift developed when it became clear that the Trebarfootes were supporters of Cromwell and the parliamentarians.
Consequently, like some Cornish Romeo and Juliet, Kate and John were forbidden to see one another. The couple decided that they had no alternative but to elope, perhaps to Temple Church, Cornwall’s Gretna Green on Bodmin Moor, so around midnight on the 26th. April around 1640 (the exact date is unclear) Kate climbed out of her bedroom window and lowered herself into the courtyard below.
Tragically the girl’s father had got wind of their plans, and was waiting in the shadows. What happened next is the subject of some confusion and speculation. Some say that in his blind fury Kate’s father shot the young lovers while they stood embracing, killing them both.
Some say that the two men started to fight, and that Kate was fatally wounded trying to come between them, and that both John and Arthur also died as a consequence of the duel.
Whatever happened, since that night Kate’s ghost is said to haunt the manor, and is especially thought to appear each 26th April. Previous owners of the house are said to have heard voices and bangs and crashing sounds in the courtyard, and Kate’s ghostly figure has been seen crossing the Great Hall late at night.
Her face has also been spotted, milky white, peering out of her bedroom window, as she must have done 400 years ago, looking for her love.
In Poundstock church there was reputedly a slate monument to John Trebarfoote, the inscription on it read:
“That of Trebarfoote may be truly said
The love of mankind here lies buried.”
Ownership of Penfound
Penfound had changed hands a few times since it was taken from the Penfound family in the 18th. century. In 1909 it was sold at auction to Mr G. Brendon of Bude who paid just £570.
During the 1950's the then-owners of Penfound Manor, Kenneth and Doris Tucker, opened the house to the public during the summer months. The couple welcomed upwards of 20,000 visitors until Kenneth’s death forced Doris to sell their home. The pair were passionate about the heritage of the building, and delighted in sharing it. Kenneth even produced a small guide to the manor and wrote in it:
“This is not a stately home built and fortified by
some royal tyrant to ensure more rest for his
uneasy head, or flung to some fawning lordling
in exchange for dubious and probably immoral
services rendered.
Penfound was built slowly, gradually, by ordinary
gentry for ordinary gentry to live in and bring up
their families in, and die. This house has witnessed
dark deeds, petty quarrels, family feuds and great
joys. Is there a prefab which has not?”
In the 1970's the National Trust wanted to purchase the house but couldn’t afford it, and it was bought by Colonel Haynes.
It remains a private home to this day, one of the things that actually makes it so unique - if sadly it means that we can’t actually visit.