South of Bodmin, in Cornwall, Lanhydrock is today famous for its great Victorian house. But the estate touches our period at its margins: its parish church goes back to the late fifteenth century, and the oldest parts of the house are only just being born, around 1620, when a family enriched by trade acquires it.
A church of the late Middle Ages
The oldest Renaissance witness of Lanhydrock is its church of St Hydroc, going back to the late fifteenth century, with its battlemented tower. It holds a set of bells — the ninth was cast around 1599, in the full Elizabethan age. This church, older than the house, recalls that in the English countryside the place of worship often preceded the great manor: the parish existed before the seigneurial estate that came to graft itself onto it.
The Robartes, a merchant fortune
Around 1620, the estate was acquired by the Robartes family, whose fortune came from trade and finance — a typical figure of those merchants who, at the turn of the seventeenth century, bought land to reach the rank of gentry. It is from this time that the oldest sections of the house date, including the long gallery with its remarkable plaster ceiling (completed around 1630, just after our window). Most of the house visible today is however Victorian: the bulk was rebuilt after a fire in 1881. Lanhydrock thus illustrates the passage, at the hinge of 1625, from a commercial fortune to a landed footing. To see: the seventeenth-century gatehouse, the church of St Hydroc (late fifteenth century, battlemented tower, bells), the long gallery with its plaster ceiling (c. 1630).
Did you know?
The long gallery of Lanhydrock is crowned with an extraordinary moulded plaster ceiling, depicting scenes from Genesis — one of the finest in Cornwall. Completed around 1630, just after our period, it is one of the few elements to have survived the fire of 1881 that destroyed almost all the house: the Robartes' plaster décor came through the fire where the stone burned.
Notes
Lanhydrock lies south of Bodmin, Cornwall; a National Trust property, house (mostly Victorian), church and gardens open to the public. The Renaissance interest rests on the church and the early Robartes. Hours to check.
Quiz
- What is the oldest Renaissance witness of Lanhydrock?
- The church of St Hydroc (late fifteenth century)
- The Victorian house
- An artillery fort
- Which family acquired the estate around 1620?
- The Robartes (merchant fortune)
- The Edgcumbes
- The Courtenays
- Why is the visible house mostly Victorian?
- Rebuilt after a fire in 1881
- Built by the Romans
- Never finished