The Story Behind The Shot - The Heart of The Landscape
Every house has stories to tell. And every house has its ghosts. Whether walking soft footsteps upon creaking floorboards or as still as the dead of night, former residents live on through tales both mundane and magnificent. Trevethoe House, seated in the heart of the tumbling countryside on the edge of Lelant village, is no different.
It too has ghosts.
Let your eyes carry across its stone face for a moment, and ponder the people separated by passing decades and changing times that once gazed out from the same windows that now hold the cogs of Tempest Photography.
Indeed, the ghosts of Trevethoe House may not walk its many rooms and corridors, but they still have a wealth of stories to tell.
History Repeats Itself
Meet the Sandows. A Cornish family whose association and ownership of the land and property travels the course of hundreds of years, and for whom, history seemed to repeat itself in the most peculiar of ways.
In the mid-16th century, during the time of the Spanish Armada, history records that a member of the Sandow family raised a company of men on horseback whose role was to repel any attempts by Spanish landing forces to invade this part of the Cornish coastline. Thankfully, they were never called into action. Fast forward a few centuries and we arrive at World War II where records tell us that a hand-picked group of men from the Home Guard were trained to break enemy lines and carry out the suicidal art of sabotage should the enemy successfully invade our shores. The plan was that these brave men would be able to carry out distraction tactics until the point troops were organised for a counter-attack. The suicidal saboteurs were to have a base camp underground at the derelict Wheal Merth mine in Lelant Downs. And, here's the history repeating itself twist, the leader of this Cornish band of brothers was Lt. Edwin Sandow of Trevethoe. Basically, if you want to invade this neck of the woods, chances are you're having to get through a Sandow first!
The Praeds & The Curious Caveat
Another family that left its mark upon Trevethoe were the Praeds. William Praed arrived on the scene as owner of one-fourth of the estate and set himself up as a country gentleman - which simply suggested he was a man of some means who made home at the estate. The family's arrival breathed new life into the place and when William's son, James, married Honor Jenkyns whose family also owned part of the estate, the Praeds found themselves with a half-share. James and later his son, John both served as M.P. for St. Ives and the estate grew in wealth and esteem. Until, well, things get a little bit more interesting.
After the death of John in 1717, the division of the estate hit a few snags. There were two brothers representing the family name. The elder brother, highly regarded, Colonel Praed, sadly died soon after marrying a woman from the Basset family of Tehidy who inherited the money from his portion of the estate. Meanwhile, the other brother named only as Mr Praed had tried and failed to make his way as a businessman and now found himself in choppy financial waters. Cut to a chance meeting with a man from the Mackworth family of Glamorganshire where a deal was struck.
In return for being released from all his financial woes and being paid an annuity for life, Mr Praed was to sign the estate over to Mr Mackworth - with a couple of curious caveats. First, Mr Mackworth was to take the name Praed...okay, seems fair enough in exchange for a whole estate. And second, he was to marry Miss Penrose of Penrose, heiress-at-law to Mr Praed's estate, and it seems, unknowing future bride of a certain Mr Mackworth-Praed.
So, the fateful day arrived. Mr Praed was dead. Mr Mackworth-Praed was born, came into possession of the Trevethoe estate, and probably after a stiff drink, made his way to the door of Miss Penrose to fulfil, as best he could, the last condition of his inheritance. Whatever steel he had conjured within himself quickly dissolved, however, when not only was he turned down by Miss Penrose, word is, he was lucky to escape the Penrose family with his life!
He did eventually get to face his once potential bride-to-be, but it was in the courtroom rather than the church, and an agreement was found that finally saw Mr Mackworth-Praed take his seat at Trevethoe.
With the dust long-settled, it was Mr Mackworth-Praed's son, Humphrey, who is considered to have revived the estate to its glorious best. Not only did he go on to become M.P. for St.Ives, but, in 1761 he rebuilt Trevethoe House and revitalised the surrounding landscape, much of which remains the same to this very day.
The More Mundane Present
And then, we leap to 1959, when our own Horace Tempest purchased the house and made it a home for both Tempest Photography and his own blossoming family. By history's standards, the rest is maybe quite tame. There have been no suicide squads prepped to fend off invaders from afar, no armada sails sighted off the shore, and no marriage proposals ending in the proposer fleeing for their life. The stories and the ghosts that followed were warmer ones that talked about family and how with a grounded ethos and strong work ethic anything was possible.
Oh, and there was the plane crash of course.
But that's a story for another time.