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Burghley House

Coordinates: 52°38′33″N 0°27′11″W / 52.64250°N 0.45306°W / 52.64250; -0.45306
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Burghley House
The façade of Burghley House
Burghley House is located in Cambridgeshire
Burghley House
Location within Cambridgeshire
General information
Architectural styleElizabethan www.burghley.co.uk
Town or cityStamford,
CountryEngland
Construction started1558–1587
ClientWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
Technical details
Structural systemAshlar limestone

Burghley House (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈbɜːrli/) [1] is a grand 16th-century country house in Cambridgeshire 0.9 miles (1.4 km) south of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England and 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the city of Peterborough. Its park was laid out by Capability Brown.[2]

History

Lord Burghley was the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign.

Burghley was built for Sir William Cecil, later 1st Baron Burghley, who was Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, between 1558 and 1587 and modelled on the privy lodgings of Richmond Palace.[3][4][5] It was subsequently the residence of his descendants, the earls and, since 1801, marquesses of Exeter, since 1961 owned by a charitable trust established by the family.[5][6]

Lady Victoria Leatham, antiques expert and television personality, followed her father, Olympic gold-medal winning hurdler and runner, IAAF President and MP David "Burghley", the 6th marquess by running the house from 1982 to 2007. Her daughter Miranda Rock is now the most active, live-in trustee.[6][7]

The house is one of the main examples of stonemasonry and proportion in 16th-century English Elizabethan architecture, reflecting the prominence of its founder and rich agricultural wool trade of the Cecil estates and has a suite of rooms remodelled in the baroque style, with carvings by Grinling Gibbons.[3] The main part of the house has 35 major rooms on the ground and first floors. There are more than 80 lesser rooms and numerous halls, corridors, bathrooms and service areas.[5][8][9][10]

In the 17th century, the open loggias around the ground floor were enclosed. Although the house was built in the floor plan shape of the letter E in honour of Queen Elizabeth, it is now missing its north-west wing. During the period of the 9th earl's ownership, and under the guidance of Capability Brown, the south front was raised to alter the roof line, and the north-west wing was demolished to allow better views of the new parkland.[3][5][8][10]

Paintings

in the Pagoda Room there are portraits of the Cecil family, Queen Elizabeth I, her father Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell. Many delicately painted walls and ceilings of the house were done by Antonio Verrio.[11]

Lost village

The Domesday village of Burghley was abandoned by 1450. The national history body field investigator in 1968 suggests that failure to locate it by archaeology is because it is below Burghley House.[12]

Parkland

Burghley House from Jones's Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1829).
Part of the Grounds, lake and boathouse

The avenues in the park were all laid out by Capability Brown,[13] paying due respect to pre-existing plantings, some of which were from the 16th century or earlier.[14] Brown also created the park's man-made lake in 1775–80. He discovered a seam of waterproof "blue" clay on the grounds, and was able to enlarge the original 9-acre (36,000 m²) pond to the existing 26-acre (105,000 m²) lake. Its clever design gives the impression of a meandering river. Brown also designed the Lion Bridge at a cost of 1,000 guineas (£1,050[nb 1][15]) in 1778. Originally, Coade-stone lions were used as ornamentation. After these weathered, the existing stone examples were made by local mason Herbert Gilbert in 1844. Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert also planted two trees to commemorate their visit. The spade that was used is on show in the bedroom that they stayed in.

As well as the annual Burghley Horse Trials,[16] Burghley plays host to the famous "Burghley Run" for Stamford School and an annual meet for the Cambridge University Draghounds.[17]

Recent developments have included starting a sculpture garden around the old ice house and, in 2007, a "garden of surprises" was created using traditional ideas of water traps, shell grottos and a mirror maze, but in a 21st-century style.[18] The Burghley House trust has commissioned thoughtful, contemporary artwork in the grounds from leading artists.

Today

The Lincolnshire county boundary crosses between the town and the house. Located in the ancient Soke of Peterborough, once a part of Northamptonshire but now for postal/ceremonial purposes in Cambridgeshire, for planning and other municipal functions the house is in the City of Peterborough, a unitary authority. The house is a Grade I listed building, with separately Grade I listed north courtyard and gate.[19] The site is open to the public.[3] A number of restoration projects are under way.

Filming

The courtyard of Burghley House, as drawn by Joseph Nash in the 19th century, but with figures in Elizabethan costume

Burghley House has been featured in several films. Its virtually unaltered Elizabethan façades and a variety of historic interiors make it an ideal location for historical and period movies.

Films and programmes made at Burghley include:

See also

  • Cecil House, 16th and 17th century demolished London residences.
  • Theobalds House, second house half-way to London, built by the founder in Hertfordshire.

Notes

  1. ^ Brown's works costs equate to between £169000 (auto-generated on minimum basis) and £138000 (2011) (Bank of England calculator).

References

  1. ^ 1st Baron Burghley This article notes it is sometimes Burleigh.
  2. ^ Turner, Roger (1999). Capability Brown and the Eighteenth Century English Landscape (2nd ed.). Chichester: Phillimore. pp. 110–112.
  3. ^ a b c d "Burghley House", Pastscape, English Heritage, retrieved 2010-06-25
  4. ^ Alford, Stephen (2008). Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I.
  5. ^ a b c d Leatham, Lady Victoria (1992). Burghley:The life of a great house. Herbert Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-871569-47-6.
  6. ^ a b "Charity commission summary for charity 258489 Burghley House Preservation Trust Limited".
  7. ^ "Burghley House Preservation Trust Limited". at Burghley's web site
  8. ^ a b Pevsner, Nicholas. The Buildings of England. Vol. Northamptonshire.
  9. ^ Leaflet published by the Trust
  10. ^ a b Leatham, Lady Victoria (2000). Great Houses of Britain. Vol. Burghley House (3 ed.). Heritage House Group Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85101-351-0.
  11. ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1127501)". National Heritage List for England.
  12. ^ "National Monument record for [[Deserted Medieval Village|DMV]] of Burghley". {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  13. ^ "National Monument record for the park, describing stages of remodelling".
  14. ^ "National Monument record for original park".
  15. ^ Bank of England Inflation Calculator, see below
  16. ^ "Burghley Horse trials".
  17. ^ "Cambridge University Draghounds meeting calendar, showing run at Burghley".
  18. ^ "Burghley's web page for the Garden of Surprises".
  19. ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1331234)". National Heritage List for England.
  20. ^ "Pride and Prejudice". The Castles and Manor Houses of Cinema's Greatest Period Films. Architectural Digest. January 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  21. ^ Template:Http://www.tv.com/shows/antiques-roadshow-uk/burghley-house-1090096/
  • Lewis, Samuel, ed. (1848). A Topographical Dictionary of England. pp. 266–269, 'Marston-Maisey – Martin-Hussingtree'. Retrieved 1 January 2011. description of the St Martin's parish, with mention the visits of Queens Elisabeth & Victoria to Burghley House

Further reading

  • Gifford, Gerald (2002). A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music Collection at Burghley House, Stamford. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0460-0.

Video clips

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Burghley House.

52°38′33″N 0°27′11″W / 52.64250°N 0.45306°W / 52.64250; -0.45306

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