Kelly is a Celtic place-name meaning clearing in a wood. William the Conqueror’s officials recorded it as Chenleia in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its owner before the conquest was Osfers, a Saxon. So 900 years ago there would have been a dwelling house, and maybe a small chapel. By 1100 the owner was Martin de (of) Kelly; ever since, it is the Kellys who have lived here.
They have altered their home over the years, but within the rebuilding the ancient mediaeval Hall house survived. Its carved roof timbers, cut from one oak tree and still in place, are now hidden by the changes which created a first floor room some 360 years ago (the space below became the kitchen, serving the House into the 20th century).
In 1742 the Kellys built the present elegantly planned Georgian House, adjacent to the old wing but now looking west to Bodmin Moor. Lastly in 1877 they added a wing to the north containing an airy games room and an Estate Office.