Houghton House 1615-1767

Probably the history of no building in Bedfordshire has provoked so much speculation and so much disagreement as Houghton House. The Park of Dame Ellensbury, split between the parishes of Ampthill and Houghton Conquest, was granted in 1615 by James I to Mary Herbert (1561-1621), wife of Henry, Earl of Pembroke, and sister of the famous poet, Philip Sydney. Her uncle had been Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and favourite of Queen Elizabeth. She was well-educated, translated French poetry and was in contact with a wide range of artistic and cultural people, including the Earl of Arundel, the foremost promoter of Italian classicism in England.

Between 1615 and her death in September 1621 the present Houghton House was built in probably two distinct stages. On her death, her son sold it back to the King. By 1624 the Bruce family, close supporters of the Stuart regime, were installed there.

Tradition has it that Houghton House is the model for Bunyan's Palace Beautiful in Pilgrim's Progress. Whether this is correct or not, Houghton House certainly had the air of a palace, flamboyant and arrogant, lauding it over the landscape below.

Although clearly designed to emphasise the importance and social dominance of its owner and possibly upstage the rival Ampthill Great Lodge on the ridge opposite, Mary George is probably correct in seeing its origins as a hunting lodge. This is indicated by the unusual feature of the principal rooms facing north, yet with a south entrance. From these principal rooms, Mary Herbert and her friends could have a superb view of the hunting in the park.

The first phase of the building of the house was the creation of the H-shaped core of the house - a conventional Jacobean plan and only incidentally a graceful gesture to the Herbert family. It included a piano nobile. This probably was started in 1615 or soon after but Dr. Andor Gomme thinks that it may well predate Mary Herbert. If so that would mean that James I commissioned it and that is unlikely as no mention of such work has so far been found in Royal accounts or in State Papers Domestic. The first phase did not include the loggias and porch.

From plans made in 1793, it is possible to get a good idea of structural walls and their probable relationship to an original ground plan.