With a rich heritage spanning beyond the 1066 Norman Conquest, Penheale is a prime example of a rural country estate that has seen great change from the medieval period through to the modern era.
Penheale’s one-thousand-years of traceable history is confirmed by its listing in the 1085 Domesday Book which provides a valuable starting point as the estate’s earliest historical record.
Although we cannot pinpoint an exact “founding year” prior to 1066, the Domesday Survey reveals Earl Harold owned medieval Penheale in addition to a sizeable population, significant as one of the 331 places listed in Cornwall.
Penheale’s inclusion in the Survey reflects an established settlement on the estate far before 1066 – predating Launceston Castle which was erected by Robert, the Count of Mortain, in 1068. Accordingly, the 958+ years from then to the present are arguably an understatement!
The evidence available for the centuries post-1066 has its limitations so the following research will simply draw upon the eight families that have lived at Penheale from 1066 to the present day.
Accordingly, we can make the following assumptions:
- The size of Penheale’s land holding and its boundaries will have expanded and contracted over time.
- The surrounding land holding(s) will have reflected farming methods and agrarian life typical of the three historical periods Penheale has lived through (medieval, early modern era and the current modern era).
- The socioeconomics of the time will have impacted Penheale generally as anywhere else in England.
The Medieval Period: 1066 – 1485
In medieval times, The Domesday Survey recorded Penheale’s landholding to be approximately 3600 acres of ‘ploughland’ – almost twice its current size – and was home to “24 villagers, 16 smallholders and 10 slaves”.
As Domesday records the heads of families, the total population is estimated to be five times larger with 250 inhabitants, all of whom will have lived within the feudal system. Introduced by William the Conqueror, this hierarchical social structure will have ensured that farming would have dominated the lives of the most local medieval people on land where strip farming was commonplace and farming tools, prohibitively crude.
Early records reveal the Botterell family held Penheale from the time of the Norman Conquest until late in the reign of Henry VI. Even if there is little evidence to suggest they ever actually lived there, it remained under the custodianship of this family of absentee landlords until the latter half of Henry VI’s reign – for an impressive eleven generations.
William Botterell was the last in the family lineage and died in 1462 without a male heir having returned from a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem. Through the marriage of his daughter Margaret, to Robert Hungerford, Penheale passed into the Hungerford family in addition to Lanaunt, Bottele, Worthevale and Bottreaux Castles. Robert was heir to the extensive Peverell estates and died in 1459 with no male heir.
Accordingly, Margaret bequeathed Penheale to her great grand daughter, Mary, who married Sir William Hastings (Lord Hastings) eldest son, Sir Edward. Edward became Lord Hungerford under the aegis of his wife’s family lineage in 1482.
Penheale remained with the Hungerfords for several generations until Edward’s grandson, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and Privy Councillor to Queen Elizabeth, sold Penheale to George Grenville.
Although there is no evidence that documents any specific projects or changes made at Penheale, it is highly likely that the Botterell and Hungerford families will have benefited from the trappings of feudalism throughout their tenures at Penheale. This hierarchical system will have ensured feudal dues and labour were typically paid to the Lord of the manor in exchange for a share of the produce and military protection. According to the Domesday Survey, Penheale commanded an annual overall value of £5 in 1085.
The Early Modern Era: 1500 – 1800:
The dawn of Penheale’s early modern period was ushered in by the tenure of the Grenvilles, who remained at Penheale for four generations and were the first family known to live in the main house. Digory Grenville, the first of the family to lease and occupy the property, had five sons. His eldest, Richard, represented Launceston in Parliament in 1555, 1562 and 1572. Moreover, Richard’s eldest son, George, purchased Penheale in 1572 while his grandson, also named George, sold it to Sir John Specott.
The Specotts are revered for their enduring contributions to Penheale, which remain visible to this day. The iconic stables, the oldest-surviving agricultural structure, were erected in 1620 – as confirmed by the date on the lintel (and contrary to the 1676 date visible above the central doorway, added 56 years later). This imposing, now-Grade 1-listed building, housed Royalist troops at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, when Cornwall played a significant role in the conflict, aligning itself with the Crown.
Penheale was bequeathed by Sir John to his second son, Paul Specott, unsurprisingly a staunch Royalist and MP for East Looe in 1624, 1627, Newport in 1625, Bossiney in 1626 and Newport in 1640. He constructed the now-Grade 1-listed Gatehouse during his tenure, which still stands majestically adjacent to the main house.
Sir John’s eldest son, also named John (MP for East Looe from 1661 to 1678), succeeded him. Despite his tenure, an heir to his line of succession was conspicuously absent. Accordingly, he entrusted Penheale to two cousins, John and Jonathan Sparkle, who predeceased him, but also died with no natural heir. After John’s expiry, Peheale was passed to John Specott’s Aunt, Elizabeth, who married Richard Long, who was the Sheriff of Cornwall in 1725.
The Specott and Long families’ tenure will have coincided with the British Agricultural Revolution, which saw an unprecedented rise in both land and labour productivity, thanks to emergent, innovative farming technologies and techniques such as the plough, crop rotation and the process of enclosure. This led to broad-based prosperity throughout society and it is highly likely the Penheale incumbents would have benefited from increased productivity and demand.
These enhanced farming practices led to a decreased demand for labour across the countryside, pushing many workers to the city in search of work in a process of rural-urban migration. The industrial revolution will have exacerbated this, leading to more demand for agricultural produce as factories proliferated.
Modern Era: 1800 to Present:
In 1830, Penheale was acquired by Henry Addington Simcoe, who acted as vicar to Egloskerry (1822-1846) and Tremaine (1846-1863). As son of Lieut. General John Graves Simcoe of Upper Canada and Commander in Chief of the Western District, he had eleven children and was a prolific writer, publishing his literature from his bespoke printing press at Penheale.
Even if Penheale was ultimately sold to the Vowler family after the succession of his third son, Samuel Palmer Simcoe, the Simcoe coat of arms still remains visible above the main door at Penheale Barton (1835) and on the distinctive weathervane which tops the Gatehouse. What is more, the public house, adjacent to the Parish Church, aptly bore the family name, The Simcoe Arms, until its closure in 1913.
Although very little is known about the Vowler’s occupation, we do know that Penheale remained in their possession until 1920, when it was acquired in a semi-ruinous condition by Col. Norman Colville, MC. A direct descendant of David Colville Senior, founder of Scotland’s then-largest steel and iron works, Norman was advised to move from Scotland to the temperate climate of south west England as a result of his catastrophic injuries sustained during World War I.
Although his illustrious contributions largely focused on the expansion and renovation of the main house and gardens, it was his son, James, who undertook an expansive programme of modernisation across the Penheale estate after his 1982 succession.
His tenure saw comprehensive change at Penheale, which touched and greatly influenced all aspects of estate life and was broadly dedicated to ensuring that properties are maintained to a high standard and the local ecology can flourish.
James farmed ‘in hand’, both arable and organic dairy. Major projects ranged from modernising Trillacott and Hole Farm(s) in 1991 and 1996 respectively, to the conversion of 840 acres of conventionally farmed land into organic pasture (2001). His ambitious programme of renovation transformed what were once neglected and dilapidated agricultural buildings into characterful rental properties (Hole Barton in 2010 and Coombekeale in 2020) that are highly sought-after, affordable and loved. Concurrently, James added sigificantly to Penheale’s woodland, with the creation of 14.5 acres of Sitka spruce at Pigs Hill and extensive oak plantations at Coombekeale.
Characterised by a love of conservation and the environment, James’s foresight has inspired Penheale’s current ecological focus and has set the narrative from which successful future generations and planning can be inspired.
In 2023, James transferred Penheale to his son, Robert, who intends to strenuously continue the work of his forebears, in the spirit of environmental sustainability and business diversification.
