Trethurffe is an historic estate in the parish of Ladock, near Truro, in Cornwall.
Descent
Trethurffe
It was held for many generations by the Trethurffe family which took its name from the estate. The later descent is given in the Heraldic Visitations of Cornwall as follows: ;John Trethurffe : Whose wife was of the Trenowith family. ;Reynold Trethurffe : Son and heir, who married Margaret St Aubyn, youngest daughter and co-heiress of John St Aubyn. ;John Trethurffe : Son and heir, who married Elizabeth/Isabel Courtenay, one of the four sisters of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon of Tiverton Castle in Devon, and a co-heiresses in her issue of her great-great-nephew Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon , who died unmarried and without children, the last of the mediaeval Courtenay Earls of Devon seated at Tiverton Castle. ;Thomas Trethurffe : Son and heir, who married Maud Trevisa, daughter and heiress of... Trevisa of Trevisa in Cornwall. He died with no sons, only two daughters who were his co-heiresses. His will reveals that he owned several "tin works" in Cornwall, which are listed in his will, transcribed in Testamenta Vetusta by Nicholas Harris Nicolas. as follows:
Elizabeth Trethurffe, eldest daughter, wife of John Vivian "Senior" of Trelawarren, Cornwall, whose son was John Vivian "Junior" of Arralas, who married a certain Johanna and died without male children leaving two daughters and co-heiresses.
Margaret Trethurffe, younger daughter, who married three times:
*Firstly to John Boscawen of Tregothnan and Tregarrick in Cornwall, by whom she has a son Thomas Boscawen who died without issue. John's younger brother and heir Hugh Boscawen was the ancestor of Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth.
**Secondly to Edward Courtenay, son and heir of Edward Courtenay of Landrake in Cornwall, by whom she had issue, to which descended Trethurffe.
The Trethurffes' inheritance of part of the Courtenay estates was supposedly foretold by the Courtenay Faggot being "againe sub-divided into other twayne". The Courtenay Faggot was a mysterious naturally mis-shapen piece of wood split at the ends into four sticks, one of which again split into two, supposedly kept as a valued possession by the Courtenay Earls of Devon. It was later interpreted as an omen of the end of the line of Courtenay Earls of Devon via four heiresses. It was seen by the Cornish historian Richard Carew when visiting Hall in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey, Cornwall, then the dower house of Margaret Reskimer, the widow of Sir William Mohun, MP, of Hall, the great-grandson of Elizabeth Courtenay, who described it in his Survey of Cornwall as follows:
A farre truer foretoken touching the Earle of Devon's progeny I have seen at this place of Hall, to wit, a kind of faggot, whose age and painting approveth the credited tradition that it was carefully preserved by those noble men. But whether upon that prescience or no, there mine author fails me. This faggot being all one peece of wood, and that naturally growen, is wrapped about the middle part with a bond and parted at the ends into foure sticks, one of which is againe sub-divided into other twayne. And in semblable maner the last Erle's inheritance accrued unto 4 Cornish gent: Mohun, Trelawny, Arundell of Talverne and Trethurffe. And Trethurffe's portion Courtenay of Ladocke and Vivian do enjoy, as descended from his two daughters and heires.
Courtenay
;Edward Courtenay, husband of Margaret Trethurffe, heiress of Trethurffe : He was the son and heir of Edward Courtenay of Landrake in Cornwall, the second son of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham in Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1483, by his wife Alice Wotton, daughter and heiress of John Wotton of Wotton in Landrake. The monumental brass of Edward Courtenay of Landrake is inscribed: "Pray for the soule of Edward Cowrtney esquyer secunde son of Sir William Cowrtney Knight of Povderam, which dyed the fyrst day of March Anno domini MVCIXo on whose soule ihesu have merci". to King Henry VIII, portrait circa 1532/4 by Hans Holbein the Younger, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle ;Peter Courtenay, eldest son and heir : A Justice of the Peace for Cornwall. His share of the inheritance from the Courtenay Earls of Devon included an eighth part of the advowson of St Peter's Church in Tiverton, to which he appointed a rector in 1559 and 1593. He married Katherin Reskimer, a daughter and co-heiress of William Reskimer of St Tudy, a Groom of the Bedchamber to King Henry VIII, whose portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger survives in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. ;John Courtenay : Eldest son and heir. In 1595 he married Ann St Aubyn, a daughter of Thomas St Aubyn of Clowance. The marriage was without surviving children and having survived her husband she remarried in 1620 to John Trevillian of Nettlecombe Court in Somerset. ;Edward Courtenay : Younger brother and heir, who in 1622 sold the family's one-eighth share of the advowson of Tiverton. In 1614 he married Elizabeth Gorges, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Tristram Gorges of Budockshed in the parish of St Budeaux, near Plymouth in Devon. She survived her husband and remarried twice, firstly in 1623 to William Bligh and secondly to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, sometime Governor of Plymouth, the "Father of English Colonization in North America", the founder of the Province of Maine in 1622. ;Sir Peter Courtenay : Eldest son and heir, of Trethurffe, who was knighted at York on 28 June 1642. he married twice. Firstly in 1638 to Alice Rashleigh, a daughter of Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly, near Fowey in Cornwall. A "release in trust" deed survives in the Cornwall Record Office dated 25 May 1661, summarised as follows: ;William Courtenay : Of Trethurffe, only son and heir, by his father's first wife Alice Rashleigh. He died without children and left his estates to his brother-in-law Humphry Courtenay of Tremere, the husband of his sister Alice Courtenay.
Present day
In 2016 the remnant of the mansion house is a farmhouse with five acres of grounds, operated as a holiday let.
