Between Helston and Penzance, not far from St Michael's Mount, you will find Godolphin, one of Cornwall's most beautiful and romantic old houses, lying hidden at the heart of its 550-acre estate.
© National Trust / Aerial Cam
A remote and enchanting place
The Godolphin family lived here from the early Middle Ages. Their original small, fortified house or castle was replaced in the 15th century with a grander design that was added to in subsequent years to become, by 1664, the largest and most fashionable house in Cornwall. Large parts of the 17th-century house still survive today: the impressive Hall with its fine linen-furled panelling, elaborate carved beams and mullioned windows and the North Range and its distinctive colonnade of granite pillars.
© National Trust / Graeme Norways
The haunting gardens
Then there is the ancient formal gardens, possibly the oldest surviving in Europe. This is very far from the idea of a typical Cornish garden: it is not about plants and flowers but about the rare remains of a medieval pattern of compartments, terraces and walkways. Here the fragments of the past are exposed making it a haunting place.
© National Trust / Graeme Norways
The future for Godolphin
After the Godolphins moved to London, the estate's new owners, the Dukes of Leeds, also chose not to live here, and for nearly 200 years it had very little attention or money spent on it. Whilst this neglect helped to preserve many of the most important aspects of the place and give it a unique air of antiquity and peace, now Godolphin needs action and help.
The Trust plans to carry on the crucial restoration work started by the Schofield family, and to make Godolphin a place where students of conservation and architecture can come to learn and practise traditional building techniques.
© National Trust / Aerial Cam
Donate today
We urgently need your support to ensure that this precious and atmospheric house, along with the ancient buildings and gardens that surround it, survive to delight and inspire generations to come. So please give whatever you can afford to safeguard the future of Godolphin.
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