Nice house, nice place
Place House is a Grade I listed building which has been the home of the Treffry family since the thirteenth century, the original structure was a fifteenth century tower, which was defended against the French in 1457 by Dame Elizabeth Treffry. It was strengthened soon afterwards, it was largely rebuilt in the sixteenth century and remodelled in the nineteenth century, the east front dating mostly from 1817-1845.
In 1731 John Treffry left the house, on his death, to his nephew William Toller, who took on the surname of Treffry in addition to his own by Act of Parliament.
It came into the possession of two sisters who were not direct descendants of the family after the death in 1779 of William Esco Treffry, it was inherited together with the family estates by his nephew Joseph Thomas Austen, a bachelor, who lived there with his mother. He changed his name by deed poll to Joseph Treffry in 1836. The house at this time was in a state of disrepair. Starting in 1813, he undertook much rebuilding and renovation, the work continuing for about thirty years. In 1820 he rebuilt the high tower that Dame Elizabeth Treffry had defended so staunchly. He tried to incorporate as much as possible of the Tudor structure into his new building. The house was inherited by the Rev Edward Treffry in the nineteenth century.
Place House was designated as a Grade I listed building on 13th March 1951. The south front has two storeys, each with five windows, and a pair of ornamented early sixteenth century bay windows. There are external turrets and a large square tower at the west end with a corbelled and battlemented parapet. The tower was built to replace an earlier tower which fell in the eighteenth century.
The house is private and not open to the public except on special occasions.
Just behind the church and overlooking the town.
Cornwall's History Fowey Polruan St. Catherine's Castle