Newton Ferrers House

William Cortyon was a lawyer who entered politics after the death of his elder brother John in 1690. As well as inheriting his brother's parliamentary seat, the rotten borough of Callington, he succeeded to the family estate of Newton Ferrers. At around this time, he undertook the building of a new house on the estate, rejecting the traditional inspiration of the county's many Medieval and Tudor manor houses in favour of the Restoration style. The mansion replaced an earlier such house which had stood on an adjacent site prior to its demolition. The direct Coryton line died out in the 18th century and in the 1880s the house was restored by Sir Digby Collins, who served as High Sheriff of…

The house is of two storeys with a basement. The building material is local granite, with a slate roof. This was originally all to a hipped design but that covering the central block was subsequently replaced with a flat roof and parapet. One of the earliest in Cornwall to be built to a Classical design, Coryton's unknown architect adopted a Restoration style H-plan, with small adjoining wings. The main interior rooms are laid out on a piano nobile, with the saloon occupying the three central bays of the south front. The gardens to the south of the house descend in a series of contemporary terraces into the valley of the River Lynher.