The Database of Houses is a continuing effort to list every country house built in Britain and Ireland, standing or demolished. The Database is updated daily and currently lists over 7,000 houses, with images for over 1,160 houses. This undertaking will compile as many details as can be found about the houses, families who occupied them, and their estates, in a standardized format. (If you'd like to know what a country house is, click here!)

For the purposes of this Database, a country house is generally defined as a manor house, or larger, built since approximately 1500 A.D.  At some point in its history the house was the country seat of a landed family that had or has an estate (agricultural land) that served as the center for local community life and may have included a park, village, or other supporting acreage.

Generally, the houses included have a minimum of five bays, though some smaller houses, lodges, villas, and follies are also included. In addition, a small percentage of the total are town houses, ancient castles, outbuildings, and gardens; all of these are usually included because of associations with a country house or a landed family and are noted with a checkbox attached to the record that states "Not a Country House."

Click here to view a sample record.

If you'd like to see our guide to the proper (British) pronunciation of house names, click here.

This Database is a work-in-progress.  Many, many houses listed require much more information before their records can be considered representative.  A work of such broad scope inevitably entails errors and omissions; we welcome your suggestions, corrections, or additions.  Click Here to Email Us

If you're planning on visiting a house, always call before starting out on your journey.  Some houses are open only by appointment or have very limited hours.

For more detailed information about the accessibility of houses open to the public, we recommend Hudson's Historic Houses & Gardens. Hudson's is the most comprehensive and informative publication available on the subject.
 
To purchase the 2009 edition of Hudson's from Amazon.com, click here. 

To purchase the 2009 edition from Amazon.co.uk, click here.

~To visit the Hudson's website, click here.

The DiCamillo Companion is not affiliated with, nor receives any compensation from, Amazon or Hudson's. These links are provided only as a service to users of The DiCamillo Companion website.

Every care has been taken to ensure that the information on this website is accurate and complete. Still, we do not accept responsibility for, or liability arising from, any inaccuracies or omissions in the information on this site. We advise you to verify any information upon which you intend to rely.