CORNWALL

WERRINGTON, Hall and lower range, Cullacott (SX 303 880)

Felling dates: Spring 1472, Spring 1478, Summer/autumn 1481

First floor joist (0/1); Principal rafters 1471(10¼C), 1477(18¼C), 1481(23½C); Purlins (0/2); Rafter (0/1).  Site Master 1394-1481 CULACOT1 (t=7.2 HALDEN; 5.9 HAFOTY1; 5.5 BELFAST; 5.1 ESTLEIGH)

Cullacott is a Grade I listed farmhouse of outstanding regional and national importance. This cob and stone built house comprises an open three-bay hall, the third bay having a screen and an internal jetty with room above, and a floored lower end encompassing four bays.  To the north is a two-storey chamber end, linked to a second chamber in a NE wing.  Both the first two phases have roofs constructed of principals with short curving feet set into the cob walls.  At the west end of the cross-passage is a two-storey stone-built porch with garderobe, and to the south-east is a timber-framed two-storied jettied porch clad in enormous slates and open below.  Wall paintings have been discovered in the hall of very fine quality and include a Tudor coat of arms and a rendering of St George and the Dragon.  Despite its state of semi-dereliction, the retention of its many features, and the absence of modern improvements, makes its survival of considerable importance.  Further information on the historical and architectural history of the house can be found in The Old Farmhouse at Cullacott, Werrington, Cornwall, Report K370, by Dr Jo Cox and Mr John Thorp of Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, also commissioned by English Heritage.

The intention of the dendrochronology was to date firmly each of these phases so that a precise chronological framework of the house’s development could be outlined.  In all, this entailed the sampling of all four main phases and two intermediate phases.  Unfortunately, only the first phase, that of the Hall and lower end, dated with felling dates ranging from 1472-1481.  Despite some samples of over 100 rings and reasonable replication, no dating was obtained, and the dates obtained for the Hall are the first obtained from a standing building in Cornwall (Miles 1995). (Miles 1995, VA 26, list 64 Part I)