Sir
John Molesworth, the fourth
Molesworth baronet, started the construction of Pencarrow in the 1760s, extending a large older house on the site, and it was completed after his death in 1766, by his son, the fifth
baronet, also Sir John Molesworth. The architect was probably
Robert Allanson. The initial remodelling of the house may have begun around 1730, as the
Palladian style of the house was somewhat out of fashion by the 1760s and 1770s when much of the work was done. Another clue is that the symmetry of the south and east
façades is not matched by any symmetry in the interior plan, possibly because the layout of the building's rooms inhibited the axial symmetry associated with the Palladian style. ==Description==