The Country Houses of Cornwall


Cornwall is a place where history is never far below the surface. It is a place of myth and legend, ancient tales and romance. The Cornish country house has been part of the history and a setting for mystery, legend and passion for centuries and has attracted many writers as a platform for great stories. Often the picture painted in fiction of Cornish houses is highly romantic - typically a rugged cliff top mansion, inhabited by a turbulent, but fascinating owner.

Above: Boconnoc House.


The reality is a little more grounded. Cornishmen were usually too wise to build their houses on exposed cliff tops. Instead, Cornish houses were usually built in more sheltered places, often in beautiful valleys or screened by wonderful woods. Perhaps because these houses were built on sequestered and hidden sites, many are not that well known or recorded. In these pages Patrick Newberry aims to remedy that lack of knowledge.

Above: Glyn House.


The reader is taken on a tour of some of Cornwall’s finest houses, following a path set in the 1840s by Edward Twycross, a writer who had ambitions to produce a series of volumes describing the country houses of every county in England. He started in Cornwall, but only managed to cover a small number of houses before dying at a relatively young age. Copies of his book are now incredibly scarce. The Twycross text and pictures are reproduced in this book together with an updating of the history and many new and old illustrations of the houses. This is not the post card image, this is the timeless story of the real Cornwall.

Above: Prideaux House.


Patrick Newberry is a passionate architectural historian who has lectured and published widely on country houses, the architecture of Cornwall and Surrey and lost houses of Surrey and Cornwall. His research interests include Cornish country houses, nineteenth century architecture and Gothic Revival architecture in Cornwall. He is completing a PhD at the University of Buckingham, researching the life and works of J.P. St Aubyn.

Above: Trenant House.


Living in one of Cornwall’s finest rectories which he restored from near ruin ten years ago, Patrick is a Historic England Commissioner, Trustee of the Georgian Group, member of the Fabric Advisory Committee of Truro Cathedral and Chairman of the Cornish Buildings Group.