WOE-burn

England

Bedfordshire

Woburn

51.9831

-0.5968

1619-41 w/18th & 19th century alterations

Partially Extant

Entire East Wing and half of North and South Range demolished

Grade I

Grade I

No

C. IV, pls. 21-25, 1767.

Vol. II, p. 190, 1853.

CXVII, 854, 1955. CXVIII, 434, 488, 1955. CXXXVIII, 98, 158, 1965. CLXXIII, 772 [Park and garden buildings], 860 [Park and garden buildings], 1983.

Vol. I, 1818.

Yes

Yes

0152-529-0666

0152-529-0271

The 1998 Good Guide to Britain Family Attraction of the Year.

Individual / Family Trust

Private Home

Duke of Bedford and Marquess of Tavistock; Russell family here for nearly 400 years.

A Cistercian monastery once stood on the site of today's house.

In 1145 Hugh de Bolebec founded a religious order on the site of the present House. The order housed Cistercian monks for almost 400 years. In 1538 the Abbot, Robert Hobbes, was found guilty of treasonable utterances against the King and the monastery was confiscated. In 1547 Edward VI granted Woburn Abbey to Sir John Russell. The first Earl of Bedford was Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Henry VIII and established the family fortune with the estates granted to him by the King as a reward for his services. Sir Francis Drake was the godson of the 2nd Earl of Bedford. The Frenchman Dominique Daguerre was employed in the 1780s to design interiors at Woburn Abbey; by 1787 he was working for the Prince Regent at Carlton House. Henry Holland’s Library at Woburn was created for the 5th Duke of Bedford in the 1790s and is one of the architect’s most important works in the style of Louis XVI. Humphry Repton wrote fondly of the “sitting-library, where groups of family and guests could enjoy diverse pursuits in an atmosphere that was cultivated but informal." It was in the Blue Drawing Room in the 19th century that Anna Maria, wife of the 7th Duke of Bedford, took her afternoon tea and thus, so it is claimed, introduced the custom to Britain. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited in 1841 amid great fanfare. The Queen slept in the bedroom that bears her name today, though it was also slept in much earlier by Charles I. One of the most famous members of the Russell family was Mary, The Flying Duchess, wife of the 11th Duke. The Duchess was a passionate pilot and flew many hours; she was lost in 1937 when her Gipsy Moth didn’t return from a short trip to Cambridge. The Flying Duchess loved animals and traveled widely, at times using her yacht, "Sapphire," for bird watching expeditions. At Woburn she founded and designed a cottage hospital, Marylands, which was a model of its kind. In 1953 the 12th Duke demolished the Riding School, the Tennis Court, and the East Front, the latter of which contained the Entrance Hall, and half of the North and South Wings, leaving the house half of its original size. The Russell family has long owned large parts of London; today their holdings are primarily in the Bloomsbury section. In 1918 the family sold Covent Garden, a market they developed in the 1670s. When the 13th Duke inherited Woburn in 1953 (he once mused that his family "thought themselves slightly grander than God") the great House was virtually derelict. Famously, the Duke, with his second wife, Lydia, set about restoring Woburn. The couple cleaned many of their possessions themselves, including a Sèvres dinner service of over 100 pieces that had been presented to the wife of the 4th Duke by King Louis XV of France in gratitude for the Duke's role in successfully negotiating the 1763 Treaty of Paris. In the 1950s the 13th Duke was one of the first in Britain to open his stately home to visitors and market it as a business. Today (2002) Woburn, and its associated attractions, receive more than 1.5 million visitors a year. Further reading - three books by the 13th Duke: "How to Run a Stately Home," 1971, with George Mikes; "A Silver-Plated Spoon," 1959, his memoirs; and "The Duke of Bedford's Book of Snobs," 1965, with George Mikes.

Woburn contains an exceptional art collection, with many world-class paintings, including works by Van Dyck, Reynolds, and over 20 Canalettos commissioned by the 4th Duke of Bedford, who was the British ambassador to France in the 1760s and successfully negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1763. In gratitude, Louis XV presented the Duchess with a Sévres dinner service for 16, comprising 183 pieces, the majority of which still survive today at Woburn. The biscuit porcelain designed as table ornaments for the service are possibly the only examples to have survived from the 18th century together with the service for which they were designed. Woburn also has in its collection a Sévres sugar bowl and tray (soft-paste porcelain, 1779) that resembles a ship with a mast flying a pennant and chickens on each end, much like those on the prow of a ship. The bowl was made to commemorate a naval encounter between England and France off the coast of Cornwall on Jun 17, 1778, when the British frigate "Arethusa" and the French frigate "La Belle Poule" engaged each other (both sides claimed victory). The chickens’ heads refer to the name of the French ship. This is one of two examples at Woburn Abbey; they are the only versions of this shape known to exist. The Sévres collection at Woburn is the 5th most important in Britain, coming after the Royal Collection, the Wallace Collection, Waddesdon Manor, and the V&A. A large collection of silver and silver gilt is on display in the Silver and Gold Vaults, including two beakers and a porringer of solid gold, and a very fine late Neoclassical style silver gilt vase by Paul Storr of 1800 engraved with the arms of the 5th Duke of Bedford, founder of the collection of antiquities at Woburn. The vase was originally a tea urn, but had its tap and spigot removed to allow it to be suitable for display on the Dining Room buffet. The tripod on hoofed feet that rises to caryatid sphinxes is derived from the bronze table from the Temple of Isis at Pompeii, excavated in the mid-18th century. This urn is one of the earliest uses of Egyptian ornament in English silver. The ancient Roman marble Villa Lante Vase at Woburn is similar in size and decoration to the more famous Warwick Vase (now in The Burrell Collection, Glasgow) and was found, as was the Warwick Vase, at Hadrian’s Villa. The Villa Lante Vase was purchased from John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor (1755-1821), one of the most remarkable collectors of antiquities in 18th century Britain. The famous Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by George Gower of 1588 is one of many masterpieces in the paintings collection at Woburn. The 6th Duke of Bedford commissioned Antonio Canova to sculpt the white marble statue of the Three Graces. The statue was carved between 1814 and 1817 and installed at Woburn Abbey in 1819, where a small rotunda was built to house it. The statue was sold from Woburn Abbey in 1994 and is now in shared ownership of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The National Galleries of Scotland. A French and Italian gold, pearl, and intaglio tiara in the Classical style of Napoleon, circa 1808-15, fomerly in the collection of Woburn, is today in the collection of the Mikimoto Jewelry company, Japan.

The collection at Woburn is considered one of the most important private art collections in the world.

Repton’s Red Book of 1804 is still contained in the Library at Woburn. The grounds contain a 3,000-acre deer park with a heard of 600 Pere David deer that originally came from China (they were saved from extinction by the 11th Duke). The deer have since become extinct in China; in Nov of 1985 the Marquess of Tavistock donated 22 deer to the Chinese government that were released in the forests near Beijing. William Atkinson created the kitchen garden and pinery for 6th Duke of Bedford before 1833. Woburn contains a 17th century Grotto that is exceptional, for few of these delicate rooms have survived. The stonework of the Grotto is carved to resemble seaweed and the walls are covered with shells. The Estate today (2004) comprises 16,000 acres.

"Up in the World" (1956 - as the exteriors of Lady Banderville's home). "At Home" (1957 - TV). "Nudist Paradise" [aka "Nature's Paradise," 1960] (1959 - prologue by the 13th Duke, first generally released British naturist film). "The Iron Maiden" [aka "The Swinging Maiden" 1963] (1962 - at the annual Woburn steam rally, with an appearance by the 13th Duke). "Crossplot" (1969). "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" [aka "My Partner the Ghost"] (1969 - TV series, episode 1.15, "The Man from Nowhere," when Jeannie tests the Marty imposter about Woburn). "Una lucertola con la pelle di donna" [aka "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin"] [aka "Schizoid" 1973] (1971). "Henry VIII and His Six Wives" (1972). "Coronation Street" (1973 - TV series, Ena and Hilda meet the 13th Duke on a visit to Woburn). "Neil Diamond: I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight" (1977 - TV concert). "The Jigsaw Man" (1983). "Treasure Hunt" (1986 - TV game show, episode 4.6, "Bedfordshire"). "Heirs and Graces" (1988 - TV documentary, episode 1.1, presented by Lady Victoria Leatham). "Country House" (1999, 2000, 2002 - TV BBC documentary, 3 series, 29 episodes, daily family life at Woburn Abbey). "Antiques Roadshow" (2004 - TV BBC documentary, episodes 26.18 & 26.19). "Shedding the Skin" (2005 - documentary on the 1971 movie). "Autumnwatch" (2008 - TV BBC documentary, episode 3.3).