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Longleat: The Story of an English Country House
The acclaimed portrait of England's most famous country house. A lively account of the family who built Longleat and who still live there, set against 450 years of turbulent family history.
'With skill and humour, David Burnett has written a most valuable history.'
'Fascinating ... an astonishing family history.'
'With skill and humour, David Burnett has written a most valuable history.'
'Fascinating ... an astonishing family history.'
- GenresHistory
224 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 18, 2024
I read this book, about the 500-year history of the aristocratic family that owns local-to-me stately home Longleat, as research for my novel. I was expecting something a little dull, but it was surprisingly a banger.
Mostly sourced from dry historical documents, occasionally it does become a series of lists, but more often David Burnett is able to draw out the stories of eccentricity and excess. Some of my fave bonkers parts:
In the 1600s, one of the many Thomas Tynnes (who can remember which) was feelin' a little blue, so he hired an elephant. "The massive creature duly arrived at Longleat, broke 21 flagstones entering the house, and was led into the great hall with two men on its trunk and a further 11 on its back." Cool cool cool. Actually, not cool. Elephants don't like being ridden. :(
A MURDER MYSTERY. Lady Louisa died on Christmas day due to complications from childbirth. There's a legend that her ghost haunts a corridor on Longleat’s top floor. "Sightings of the grey lady remain on documented, but they are founded on the possibility that her husband Thomas murdered her lover by pushing him down a staircase. There is no proof of Louisa’s infidelity and only one fact lends substance to the story. In 1915 a jackbooted skeleton was found at the foot of the shaft near where the murder is said to have occurred." (Imagine having a skeleton in a shaft in your home for lit 300 years and not noticing.)
In the 1800s, there was a fashion for keeping an "ornamental hermit" who dressed in sackcloth and shambled around your home in silence. Previously, I thought doing lip fillers was going to be my backup career (pls buy my book), but now I think I might pivot to being an ornamental hermit.
"He kept kangaroos in the pheasantry at Longleat and made a study of their breeding habits." Normal behaviour for rural England in the 19th century.
Mostly sourced from dry historical documents, occasionally it does become a series of lists, but more often David Burnett is able to draw out the stories of eccentricity and excess. Some of my fave bonkers parts:
In the 1600s, one of the many Thomas Tynnes (who can remember which) was feelin' a little blue, so he hired an elephant. "The massive creature duly arrived at Longleat, broke 21 flagstones entering the house, and was led into the great hall with two men on its trunk and a further 11 on its back." Cool cool cool. Actually, not cool. Elephants don't like being ridden. :(
A MURDER MYSTERY. Lady Louisa died on Christmas day due to complications from childbirth. There's a legend that her ghost haunts a corridor on Longleat’s top floor. "Sightings of the grey lady remain on documented, but they are founded on the possibility that her husband Thomas murdered her lover by pushing him down a staircase. There is no proof of Louisa’s infidelity and only one fact lends substance to the story. In 1915 a jackbooted skeleton was found at the foot of the shaft near where the murder is said to have occurred." (Imagine having a skeleton in a shaft in your home for lit 300 years and not noticing.)
In the 1800s, there was a fashion for keeping an "ornamental hermit" who dressed in sackcloth and shambled around your home in silence. Previously, I thought doing lip fillers was going to be my backup career (pls buy my book), but now I think I might pivot to being an ornamental hermit.
"He kept kangaroos in the pheasantry at Longleat and made a study of their breeding habits." Normal behaviour for rural England in the 19th century.
November 5, 2017
David Burnett has presented a well researched and fascinating account of the 450-year old edifice that is Longleat. He takes the reader through each of the owners of the property with plenty of historical background, how the property was built, developed and redeveloped, how it changed through the ages both aesthetically and in the way it was run, how the below stairs numbers changed considerably with the times, right through to the Safari Park years and the way it is now run by Alexander Thynn (he has dropped the original 'e' at the end of the surname), the 7th Marquess of Bath.
John Thynne, born the son of a Shropshire farmer in 1515, paid £53 for 60 acres of land, a rabbit warren, an orchard, a water mill and a tumbledown Wiltshire priory called Longlete in 1540. It was a purchase that not only laid the foundation for his own career but was to secure the long-term future of the Thynnes.
After accompanying the Protector Somerset on his trip to Scotland where he hoped to arrange a marriage between Edward VI and the four-year-old Queen of Scots, he was knighted. But in October 1549 he found himself imprisoned in the Tower of London after Somerset's Protectorship had foundered. After eight months incarceration he was released and ordered to remain on his estates until further notice.
This was no hardship to Sir John for he had grand plans to redevelop the now named Longleat. Interestingly the identity of any architect is unclear for Sir John insisted that the final responsibility for Longleat should be his and his alone - thus there is no known professional architect for the house.
Sir John married twice, Lady Christian Gresham was his first wife and when she died he married Lady Dorothy Wroughton. Between them they had 18 children and it was his first son, also Sir John, who inherited the estate after the original Sir John's death in May 1580. Unfortunately father and son had little natural affection for one another and the former never encouraged his son to take an interest in the estate. Nevertheless the young Sir John and his family, who had a house in London, moved into Longleat in the summer of 1580.
And since then the estate has passed down through the Thynne lineage without interruption. And during that time there have been hard times, particularly financially, that have been overcome and there have been some splendid years. Development has always been carried out and such as Sir Christopher Wren and 'Capability' Brown have added their mark to the house and grounds.
One high point was in September 1789 when George III, who had just conferred the title of Marquess of Bath on the then owner Thomas Thynne, and Queen Charlotte with their three daughters stayed overnight at Longleat. The royal family also had with them an entourage of equerries, pages and ladies-in-waiting, with Fanny Burney one of the ladies in question. This Thomas was also the Thynne who added extensively to the family library, the main reason being that he had a standing order with a London bookseller for every new book as it was published. One parcel apparently included books on Egypt, drainage, the philosophy of natural history, gas lighting and building a theatre - that selection somehow takes the gloss off what sounded a great idea!
Just before Alexander, the 4th Marquess of Bath, took over the estate on his 21st birthday (his father had died when he was six) he had met William Makepeace Thackeray in Paris and the latter described him as 'a high bred, high fed, petted and not over-wise young-man-about-town' whose 'greatest religion' was brandy and water. However, Alexander successfully ran the estate until his death in 1896.
The sixth Marquess of Bath, Henry Thynne was the first to introduce the public to Longleat, which was the first privately owned stately home to admit the public on a regular basis, and he commented in 1966, 'People put me down as a bit mad, but the situation is simply that I love this place so much that - although I'm basically shy - I force myself to do things to attract people to Longleat and so make money to preserve it.' And that was what it was all about, keeping enough income to uphold and maintain the property.
And it was Henry, in conjunction with Jimmy Chipperfield, who introduced the idea of a Safari Park into the Longleat lifeline. Amusingly Henry did not understand and said, 'I thought he meant a zoo! I asked him where he wanted to put all the cages and he said, "I don't want any cages. The lions will go free an the visitors will be caged in their cars."' Henry was initially horrified and went and poured himself a drink! He should not really have been surprised for the 3rd Marquess had previously kept kangaroos in the pheasantry and made a study of their breeding habits!
Thirty years after Henry spoke about preserving Longleat, the 7th Marquess, Alexander, commented in 1996, 'I am lucky to have Longleat as the most superb backdrop for life's stage, where I am naturally inspired to spend my days working, in all of my individualistic performances, to live up to it.' Alexander is an accomplished artist and has painted 10 murals depicting the Ages of Man in his drawing room and has also completed various other murals and a series of abstract paintings, the most accessible of which are the 'fantasy' murals in the children's nursery.
David Burnett has given a complete picture of the house and its various uses (it has once manifested itself into a school for instance), the estate, its inhabitants and particularly its below stairs staff, which numbered 43 in 1902 and had reduced to 14 by 1939. All in all 'Longleat The Story of an English Country House' is a compelling read and one not be missed.
John Thynne, born the son of a Shropshire farmer in 1515, paid £53 for 60 acres of land, a rabbit warren, an orchard, a water mill and a tumbledown Wiltshire priory called Longlete in 1540. It was a purchase that not only laid the foundation for his own career but was to secure the long-term future of the Thynnes.
After accompanying the Protector Somerset on his trip to Scotland where he hoped to arrange a marriage between Edward VI and the four-year-old Queen of Scots, he was knighted. But in October 1549 he found himself imprisoned in the Tower of London after Somerset's Protectorship had foundered. After eight months incarceration he was released and ordered to remain on his estates until further notice.
This was no hardship to Sir John for he had grand plans to redevelop the now named Longleat. Interestingly the identity of any architect is unclear for Sir John insisted that the final responsibility for Longleat should be his and his alone - thus there is no known professional architect for the house.
Sir John married twice, Lady Christian Gresham was his first wife and when she died he married Lady Dorothy Wroughton. Between them they had 18 children and it was his first son, also Sir John, who inherited the estate after the original Sir John's death in May 1580. Unfortunately father and son had little natural affection for one another and the former never encouraged his son to take an interest in the estate. Nevertheless the young Sir John and his family, who had a house in London, moved into Longleat in the summer of 1580.
And since then the estate has passed down through the Thynne lineage without interruption. And during that time there have been hard times, particularly financially, that have been overcome and there have been some splendid years. Development has always been carried out and such as Sir Christopher Wren and 'Capability' Brown have added their mark to the house and grounds.
One high point was in September 1789 when George III, who had just conferred the title of Marquess of Bath on the then owner Thomas Thynne, and Queen Charlotte with their three daughters stayed overnight at Longleat. The royal family also had with them an entourage of equerries, pages and ladies-in-waiting, with Fanny Burney one of the ladies in question. This Thomas was also the Thynne who added extensively to the family library, the main reason being that he had a standing order with a London bookseller for every new book as it was published. One parcel apparently included books on Egypt, drainage, the philosophy of natural history, gas lighting and building a theatre - that selection somehow takes the gloss off what sounded a great idea!
Just before Alexander, the 4th Marquess of Bath, took over the estate on his 21st birthday (his father had died when he was six) he had met William Makepeace Thackeray in Paris and the latter described him as 'a high bred, high fed, petted and not over-wise young-man-about-town' whose 'greatest religion' was brandy and water. However, Alexander successfully ran the estate until his death in 1896.
The sixth Marquess of Bath, Henry Thynne was the first to introduce the public to Longleat, which was the first privately owned stately home to admit the public on a regular basis, and he commented in 1966, 'People put me down as a bit mad, but the situation is simply that I love this place so much that - although I'm basically shy - I force myself to do things to attract people to Longleat and so make money to preserve it.' And that was what it was all about, keeping enough income to uphold and maintain the property.
And it was Henry, in conjunction with Jimmy Chipperfield, who introduced the idea of a Safari Park into the Longleat lifeline. Amusingly Henry did not understand and said, 'I thought he meant a zoo! I asked him where he wanted to put all the cages and he said, "I don't want any cages. The lions will go free an the visitors will be caged in their cars."' Henry was initially horrified and went and poured himself a drink! He should not really have been surprised for the 3rd Marquess had previously kept kangaroos in the pheasantry and made a study of their breeding habits!
Thirty years after Henry spoke about preserving Longleat, the 7th Marquess, Alexander, commented in 1996, 'I am lucky to have Longleat as the most superb backdrop for life's stage, where I am naturally inspired to spend my days working, in all of my individualistic performances, to live up to it.' Alexander is an accomplished artist and has painted 10 murals depicting the Ages of Man in his drawing room and has also completed various other murals and a series of abstract paintings, the most accessible of which are the 'fantasy' murals in the children's nursery.
David Burnett has given a complete picture of the house and its various uses (it has once manifested itself into a school for instance), the estate, its inhabitants and particularly its below stairs staff, which numbered 43 in 1902 and had reduced to 14 by 1939. All in all 'Longleat The Story of an English Country House' is a compelling read and one not be missed.
August 22, 2017
David Burnett set out to write a biography of Longleat, the house, and that's exactly what he did. This book is the story not only of the people who built and lived in Longleat (and still do), but of the house itself and its changing roles throughout history. The book is very readable and includes lots of entertaining tidbits. I had previously read the first chapter since it pertains to my particular interest, but now I've enjoyed the whole picture.
January 22, 2023
Clearly well researched and some interesting anecdotes, but the grammar was so appalling it made it difficult to read, and took the enjoyment out of it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews