Heritage > Historic Houses

Woburn Abbey

Welcome To Woburn

Woburn Abbey has been home of the Dukes of Bedford for over 300 years and is now lived in by the present Duke's heir, the Marquess of Tavistock and his family, in the Family Rooms. The house's history began in 1145 when Hugh deBolebec built an abbey here for Cistercian monks. The abbey was confiscated in 1538 under the orders of King Henry VIII for 'treasonable utterances' and given to Sir John Russell for services to the crown in 1547. It became the family seat of the Russell family in 1619. In 1747 it was partially reconstructed and extended by the Palladian architect Henry Flitcroft who built Woburn Abbey into most of what we see today. The next major building period was in 1786 under the direction of Henry Holland and although some of Holland's work had to be demolised in 1949 his influence remains in the Canaletto room and Library. Henry Holland was also closely involved in the design and construction of Broadlands.

The house contains one of the most important private collections of furniture, porcelain, silver and paintings, by many famous craftsmen and artists, including Claude, Cuyp, Gainsborough, Murillo, Rembrandt, Reynolds and Deniers to name only a few and in one room of the Private Apartments, the magnificent Venetian Room, there are 21 paintings of Venice by Antonio Canale (Canaletto).

Woburn has been home to distinguished visitors in the past, including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who used a suite of rooms here.

Woburn's 3,000 acre deer park was landscaped by Humphry Repton in the early 19th century, and contains an abundance of wildlife, including nine species of deer. One of these, the Pere David, descended fnum the Imperial Herd of China, was saved from extinction at Woburn and is now the largest breeding herd in the world.

There are 40 acres of pleasure gardens and a Pottery, as well as the 40 shop Antiques Centre which is probably the most unusual such centre outside London, having been designed and built utilising many shop fronts and facades, rescued from demolition sites in various parts of Britain.

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