Botallack Manor was built in the 17th century. The house is featured in the BBC television series ''

Poldark ''Poldark'' is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, '' Ross Poldark'', was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted twice fo ...

'', and is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

situated in St Just,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

History

Botallack Manor was built in the 17th century, and is believed to have been completed in the 1660s. It is built of granite rubble with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. The building is an L-shape. The house features two engravings from 1665 and 1688, and the main fireplace has an engraving from 1681. The manor farm contains Tudor era barns, as well as 18th and 19th century barns. The manor has views of the West Cornwall coast, and of the former

tin mines Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use can ...

nearby. In 1950, Botallack Manor became a Grade II*

; it is the only Grade II* listed building in the area. In the 18th century, John Wesley preached from the garden of Botallack Manor. Botallack Manor featured in the 1975 BBC television series ''

'' as Nampara, the home of title character Ross Poldark. Only the back of Botallack Manor was used for filming, due to the prevalence of electricity pylons. The front of the house in ''Poldark'' was from the nearby

Pendeen Pendeen (from kw, Penn Din meaning "headland fort", previously known as kw, Boskaswal Wartha, meaning "Caswal's high dwelling") is a village and ecclesiastical parish on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is north-northea ...

Manor. The house has been visited by people from Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, due to its use in ''Poldark''. The house has also been used as a

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

. Botallack Manor has been vacant since 2013, after the owner of the house died. It is currently in a state of disrepair, with windows boarded up and significant damage to the roof of the building. Additional damage has been caused by storms and vandalism. In 2019, Botallack Manor was added to

Save Britain's Heritage Save Britain's Heritage (styled as ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'') is a British charity, created in 1975 by a group of journalists, historians, architects, and planners to campaign publicly for endangered historic buildings. It is also active on the ...

's buildings at risk register. Restoration work on the house had been planned for 2021, having been delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, though as of 2022, no work had been started.

References

External links

Historic England
{{coord, 50.13894, -5.68598, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Cornwall Grade II* listed houses Houses completed in the 17th century Houses in Cornwall