England · Restored
Pentillie
Pentillie Castle is a country house and estate on the River Tamar in Cornwall, England, traditionally called a castle though shaped as a stuccoed country seat. Built from the late 17th century and significantly enlarged in the early 19th century, it remains a listed building and an active estate with restored gardens and visitor facilities. The mausoleum and riverbank setting are notable features of the grounds.
Its prime
1810
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1810
What Pentillie looked like in its prime.
Rectangular two-storey pale-stucco country house with a symmetrical central block flanked by lower projecting pavilions, punctuated by three low square castellated towers with simple battlements and hipped slate roofs. The ground floor centre is defined by a row of red-brick semicircular arches forming a loggia/arcade beneath regular sash windows on the first floor; the left end shows a coursed rubble base. The house faces a broad gravel forecourt and lawn on the River Tamar bank and encloses a central open courtyard.
Its story
The story of Pentillie.
Sir James Tillie and the Building of Pentillie, 1698–1713
Sir James Tillie, born in 1645 to a poor background, rose through the ranks to become agent to Sir John Coryton, owner of the Newton Ferrers estate. When Coryton died suddenly, Tillie improved his fortunes by marrying his patron's widow, Elizabeth. He then divided the Newton Ferrers estate and commissioned a new house, Pentillie, which was completed in 1698. Tillie died in 1713, leaving the estate to his nephew, James Woolley.
The Coryton Reunification and Repton's Remodelling, 18th Century–1810
On Woolley's death the estate passed to his daughter Mary Jemima, who married Peter Coryton, heir to Newton Ferrers, reuniting the two estates and making Pentillie the Corytons' principal Cornish seat. The family prospered through the 18th century, coming to own more than 20,000 acres in the county. In 1809 they commissioned the landscape designer Humphry Repton, whose plans led to an extensive enlargement the following year: three new wings were raised to the west of the old house in a Gothic Revival style, enclosing a central courtyard.
Wartime Requisition and Demolition, 1939–1960s
During the Second World War the south wing was requisitioned and used as a maternity ward for the local population. By the 1960s the house was in poor repair, and most of the 1810 construction was demolished. The remodelled house that resulted is Grade II* listed.
Recovery, Filming and the Mausoleum, 2007–Present
In 2007 Pentillie was inherited by Ted Spencer and his wife Sarah, who later took the Coryton surname. The estate featured in Ruth Watson's Channel 4 series Country House Rescue in 2009 and 2011, and its grounds have served as a filming location, including for the German television adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's Im Zweifel für die Liebe in 2009. In 2013 archaeologists discovered human remains in the estate's mausoleum, despite 19th-century claims that all bodies had been removed from the site; it was speculated that the remains might be those of James Tillie, who had asked in his will to be dressed in his best clothes, bound to a chair and placed with his books, wine and pipe in the vault rather than buried. The estate today is run for weddings, corporate events and private hire, with its gardens being restored and open to the public on specific days.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1810.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Pentillie, including 1 interior: mausoleum interior. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Pentillie with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Pentillie.
The families that held Pentillie for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Coryton
Main seat of the Coryton family in Cornwall from the 18th century, through the 19th and 20th centuries.
Nearby
