Scorrier House

Scorrier House embodies an important period of Cornish history. Originally built in 1780 by the mining tycoon John Williams, the Williams family still reside here seven generations later, surrounded by the Scorrier Estate. The Cornish Williams’ are a well-documented family, notably because of their ambitious entrepreneurism during the early industrial revolution when Cornwall’s tin and copper industry prospered. So ambitious, in fact, that John Williams paid his workers in his own currency during a national currency shortage. The Scorrier Penny remains an important symbol of Cornwall’s 18th century mining zenith and many are on display in the Royal Cornwall Museum. Renowned for their gardens, the Williams’s of Cornwall once employed William Lobb, one of the great Victorian nurserymen, botanists and plant hunters who ventured around the world bringing back exotic species to decorate Scorrier’s garden. The garden remains an evolving timepiece, combining winding paths, old walled gardens, wild meadows, maintained borders, flowering urns and radiant vistas.