Submitted by Area Rep Richard Hoskins
The manor of Golden lies 1½ miles (2.4km) ESE of Probus. Several Grade II* listed medieval and Tudor buildings remain at the settlement, including the manor house itself. All of these buildings are privately owned and not open to the public but one large, rectangular, buttressed building lies next to the road and much of its exterior is clearly visible.
Currently used as a barn, this is known as the Chapel but is probably a medieval first floor hall house – a hall with a room at first floor level, accessed by an external staircase, with rooms below for storage or living accommodation for a lower status family or animals. It was occupied by the Wolvedon family until about 1537 when they moved to the new manor house 50 metres to the south west. The building has another, smaller building attached on its east side near the south end.
The west front (at left in the photograph) is essentially late medieval although much altered. The door opening at the north end was probably added in the 19th century but the two buttresses and their granite weatherings are original. The two slit windows to the first floor are probably also original but reset. The granite arched opening between the buttresses, with dripstone moulding above, is also a later insert.
The south gable end (right in the photograph) was probably rebuilt in the late 19th century, incorporating many reused fragments including a 16th century granite arch over the main door, together with cut down jambs.
Inside, the original medieval roof timbers, of upper cruck trusses, survive below the modern asbestos roof.
