Trelaske Manor stood south of Lewannick and was for many years the principal residence of the Archer family. The estate had earlier associations with the Upton family, but by the early nineteenth century it had passed to Lt-Col. Edward Archer (1792–1834). On his death the property was inherited by his son, Colonel Edward Archer (1816–1885), who held it for the remainder of his life. The manor formed the centre of a substantial agricultural estate and was one of the larger landed properties in the parish.
The house was a sizeable structure with multiple service ranges. The surviving western portion, now standing, formed part of the stable block and included accommodation for horses and the Archer family’s pack of hounds. The main house extended eastwards from this block and incorporated formal rooms and domestic quarters. A walled garden lay nearby, entered through a large gateway, and a Gothic-style lodge stood at one of the approaches. These ancillary buildings indicate the scale of the estate during its nineteenth-century peak. The map below shows the position of the original house.
The Archer family’s position was affected by the Estate Duty Act of 1894, which imposed new financial burdens on landed estates. Over time the Trelaske property contracted in size, with land sold off to meet obligations. After the First World War the estate diminished further. When the last Archer owner died without heirs in 1957 the remaining lands were broken up and disposed of.
The main house was demolished in 1959. Only the western service wing was retained, likely because its condition made it more economical to repair than the principal structure. The demolition removed the last substantial elements of the manor, leaving only photographs, maps and the surviving outbuildings to indicate its former extent.
Trelaske Manor no longer exists as a residence, but its remaining structures and documentary record provide evidence of the Archer family’s long association with Lewannick and of the estate’s gradual reduction from a major nineteenth-century property to its present form.
