The Price family was connected to Cornwall (by marriage) only from 1736. They were, however, 'of great antiquity in the principality of Wales' and had resided in Jamaica from 1655. Rose Price was born in Penzance in 1768, married Elizabeth Lambart of Co. Meath in 1795, succeeded to his father's estates (including Rose Hall in Jamaica) in 1797, was created baronet in 1815 and died in 1834. He had six sons and eight daughters and it may have been in anticipation of this large family that, in 1797, he commissioned Dance to design a house at Paul, just south of Penzance.

Of Paul (the 'Saint' was always omitted), Davies Gilbert wrote that it 'is bounded to the west by St Burian and Sanscreed, to the north by Maddern, to the east and south by the Channel and Mount's Bay'. The same antiquarian tells us that 'the late Mr John Price commenced the formation of a pretty retreat in a small declivity near the ridge of his parish, at a place called Chi-owne, the house in a croft. Trees were found to flourish there, and the whole promised so much that his son Mr. Rose Price began to lay the foundation of a handsome seat on the adjoining farm; and he went so far as to construct an immense mound to act as a shelter for trees, and also to give them an elevation on its slope, a work which the country people named "The Chinese Wall": the whole was, however, discontinued for want of sufficient space, which was afterwards afforded in the adjacent parish of Maddern by the purchase of Trengwainton.'

Dance's plans show that the existing farmhouse was very small, externally measuring 16 feet by 9 inches deep and 38 feet 3 inches wide with a one-bay, ground floor projection. In the initial designs, Dance keeps 'the old house' using it as a wash house and laundry ([SM D3/14/10]) and a kitchen ([SM D3/14/11], [SM D3/14/12], [SM D3/14/13], [SM D3/14/15], [SM D3/14/14], [SM D3/14/16], [SM D3/14/17]). Five designs were made (Dance labelling them 'N^o1' to 'N^o5') that concentrated on the plan. The budget could not have been large and the requirement for a drawing room, eating room and upstairs library never altered while the offices, an integral part of the house, were varied and improved and the number of bedrooms increased to 14 by the addition of a mezzanine floor. Dance's design is austere. The site not far from Land's End, the likely use of Cornish granite and slate, the basic character of the brief - numerous bedrooms and only two reception rooms and a library - as well as the trend towards stripped and flattened facades may all have contributed to the stark simplicity of Dance's designs.

The final set of drawings ([SM D3/14/24], [SM D3/14/21], [SM D3/14/19], [SM D3/14/23], [SM D3/14/22], [SM D3/14/20], [SM D3/14/18]) are in a builder's or local architect's hand and it is possible that Dance gave Rose Price some drawings but was not intending to supervise construction and he may never have visited the site. The final drawing ([SM D2/8/10]) reveals that there were problems with tin-mining tunnels under the house. It is likely that the extent of these 'Tin Drifts' only became apparent once building work began and Dance had then to offer a solution to the problem. In the event, construction was stopped and Rose Price bought an existing house at Trengwaiton, west of Penzance.

It is not known how Dance met his client Rose Price.

LITERATURE. C. S. Gilbert, Historical survey of the county of Cornwall, vol.II, 1870-20, pp.579-80; D. Gilbert, Parochial history of Cornwall, vol.III, 1838, pp.283, 289; Stroud p.245.

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