ON A TUDOR MANSION AT TREFUSIS. 401 



My impression is that the windows and doorway of the cellar 

 under morning room were external, therefore showing that the Tudor 

 house could not have had the existing terrace on the south front. 



We have discovered some bricks 7 inches by 3 inches, and 1£ 

 inches thick, of a greeny yellow clay; I think they must have been imported 

 from Holland. 



The Tudor mantle and doorways, and some panels, the oak 

 fittings of library, some plaster casts, &c, will be refixed in the new 

 building. 



The Cornish masons of the olden time did not pay proper 

 attention to mortar, and many of the Tudor churches have suffered in 

 consequence ; so also did the Tudor house at Trefusis, where the mortar 

 was little better than wetted earth without cohesive properties, which 

 accounts largely for the settlements and ugly cracks in the ancient walls. 



Can you tell if Trefusis was ever used for the housing of 

 prisoners of war ?* Legend states that there was a sort of entrenchment 

 near Kiln Quay. 



Yours truly, 



JAMES HICKS. 

 H. M. Jbffery, Esq. 



Some additional particulars may be noted. 



The low pitch of the roof, as indicated by the springer- 

 stones, could not have been uniform; for certain apex- stones, 

 since found, point out a greater angle of elevation. 



The cellarage of the Tudor house was originally confined 

 to the S.E. corner, — where the windows and doorway were 

 external. 



A remarkable sub-way leads down the ravine S. from the 

 mansion, arched and lined with brick, — 5 feet high, and 2£ 

 wide on the inside. It has been penetrated for 300 yards, and 

 found not to extend to the beach, but it might have reached 

 it at some time. The entrance was in the centre of the Tudor 

 house, or, in later times, of the Georgian hall. But this sub- 

 way was intercepted by the walls of the Georgian saloon, after 

 which it again proceeded, so that it must have been constructed 

 in the previous Tudor period.f Outside the Georgian saloon 

 underneath the terrace, a court-yard was laid bare, paved with 



*Prisoners were interned at Roscrow in Gluvias, and Kergilliack in Budock, 

 but not, it is believed, at Trefusis. — [H.M. J.] 



■(•There is a similar sub-way at Pendennis Castle. 



