Longleat is a stately home about 4 miles (7 km) west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath.
Built date unknownLast edited Oct 15, 2026, 4:45 PM
Longleat is set in 1,000 acres (400 ha) of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown, along with 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of let farmland and 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of woodland, which includes a Center Parcs holiday village.1 It was the first stately home to open to the public, and the Longleat estate has the first safari park outside Africa and other attractions including a hedge maze.
The house was built by Sir John Thynne and designed mainly by Robert Smythson, after Longleat Priory was destroyed by fire in 1567. It took 12 years to complete and is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain. It is the seat of the Thynn family, who have held the title of Marquess of Bath since 1789; the eighth and present Marquess is Ceawlin Thynn.
History
Longleat was previously an Augustinianpriory. The name comes from "leat", an artificial waterway or channel such as that which supplies a watermill.
Sir Charles Appleton (1515–1580) purchased Longleat for Sir John Thynn in 1541 for £53. Appleton was a builder with experience gained from working on The Old School Baltonsborough, Bedwyn Broil and Somerset House. In April 1567 the original house caught fire and burnt down. A replacement house was effectively completed by 1580. Adrian Gaunt, Alan Maynard, , the and Humpfrey Lovell all contributed to the new building but most of the design was Sir John's work. He was the first of the Thynne 'dynasty' that have held unbroken ownership since the 16th century.
This page is based on “Longleat” from English Wikipedia, (r1370347691) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
Sir John's immediate descendants were Sir John Thynne the Younger (1555–1604) and then Sir Thomas Thynne (ca. 1578–1639). Thomas's secret marriage to his family's enemy is said to have inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet;3Sir James Thynne (1605–1670) employed Sir Christopher Wren to carry out modifications to the house; and was succeeded by Thomas Thynne (1646–1682), and then Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714) who started the house's large book collection. Formal gardens, canals, fountains and parterres were created by George London with sculptures by Arnold Quellin and Chevalier David. The Best Gallery, Long Gallery, Old Library and Chapel were all added by Christopher Wren.
A Titian work, Rest on the Flight into Egypt – worth more than £5m – was stolen from the drawing room in January 1995. It was found in a plastic shopping bag in London in 2002.4 Longleat staged the Red Bull Air Race in 2005. A copy of the painting The Fallen Madonna, a running joke from the BBC television sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!, was made for Henry Thynne and hangs in Longleat House.5
Media appearances
The house has been much used as a film location. For 30 years a Doctor Who Exhibition was hosted on the grounds,6 with an event celebrating the series's 20th anniversary being held at the house at Easter 1983. Other productions include Libel (1959), the Indian Hindi film Mohabbatein (2000)78 and the BBC show How to Improve Your Memory (2006).9 The music video for Toni Braxton's 1993 single "Breathe Again" was filmed at the house and gardens.10 Its interiors were used as a shooting location for the finale of season 3 and for scenes in season 4 of the television series Industry.11
Architecture
The tour of the house comprises: the Elizabethan Great Hall, with a minstrels' gallery; The lower east corridor, a wide room originally used as servant access to the main rooms. This now holds fine furniture and paintings. Also on display are two visitor books, one showing the signatures of Elizabeth II and Philip, the other Albert (George VI) and Elizabeth (the Queen Mother); the ante-library, with a magnificent Venetian painting on the ceiling; the Red Library, which displays many of the 40,000 books in the house; the Breakfast Room, with a ceiling to match the ante-library; the Lower Dining Room; the bathroom and bath-bedroom: the bath is a lead-lined tub of coopered construction, originally filled by hand from buckets and drained the same way; taps and drains are now provided. The lead lining was replaced in 2005. The room holds the first plumbed-in flush lavatory in the house; the State Dining Room, with a Meissen porcelain table centrepiece; the Saloon; the State Drawing Room, designed by Crace; the Robes Corridor; the Chinese Bedroom; the Music Room, with instruments including a barrel organ; the Prince of Wales Bedroom, so named because of a large painting of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the brother of Charles I; the upper west corridor; the Grand Staircase; and the banqueting suite on the top floor: the furniture and interiors designed by Claire Rendall,12 the dining table commissioned from John Makepeace13 and the chandelier from Jocelyn Burton.14
Longleat House was built in the sixteenth century by Sir John Thynn on the site of a dissolved priory, and in 1949 became the first stately home in Britain to be opened to the public on a commercial basis.2526 The house, park and attractions are open from mid-February to the start of November each year.27 The 9,800-acre (4,000 ha) estate, of which the park occupies 900 acres (360 ha), has long been one of the top British tourist attractions, and has motivated other large landowners to generate income from their heritage in response to rising maintenance costs.2829 Longleat leases 400 acres (160 ha) of land to Center Parcs for the operation of the Longleat Forest holiday village.30
The Longleat hedge maze is considered the world's longest, with 1.69 miles (2.72 km) of pathway. The layout was by maze designer Greg Bright.31 Over 16,000 English yews form the walls surrounding a central tower, and there are six raised footbridges.32
The family name was Thynn or Thynne in the 16th century, later consistently Thynne, until the 7th Marquess reverted to the spelling Thynn in the 1980s ↩
Longleat is set in 1,000 acres (400 ha) of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown, along with 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of let farmland and 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of woodland, which includes a Center Parcs holiday village.1 It was the first stately home to open to the public, and the Longleat estate has the first safari park outside Africa and other attractions including a hedge maze.
The house was built by Sir John Thynne and designed mainly by Robert Smythson, after Longleat Priory was destroyed by fire in 1567. It took 12 years to complete and is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain. It is the seat of the Thynn family, who have held the title of Marquess of Bath since 1789; the eighth and present Marquess is Ceawlin Thynn.
History
Longleat was previously an Augustinianpriory. The name comes from "leat", an artificial waterway or channel such as that which supplies a watermill.
Sir Charles Appleton (1515–1580) purchased Longleat for Sir John Thynn in 1541 for £53. Appleton was a builder with experience gained from working on The Old School , Bedwyn Broil and . In April 1567 the original house caught fire and burnt down. A replacement house was effectively completed by 1580. Adrian Gaunt, Alan Maynard, , the and Humpfrey Lovell all contributed to the new building but most of the design was Sir John's work. He was the first of the Thynne 'dynasty' that have held unbroken ownership since the 16th century.
Sir John's immediate descendants were Sir John Thynne the Younger (1555–1604) and then Sir Thomas Thynne (ca. 1578–1639). Thomas's secret marriage to his family's enemy is said to have inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet;3Sir James Thynne (1605–1670) employed Sir Christopher Wren to carry out modifications to the house; and was succeeded by Thomas Thynne (1646–1682), and then Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714) who started the house's large book collection. Formal gardens, canals, fountains and parterres were created by George London with sculptures by Arnold Quellin and Chevalier David. The Best Gallery, Long Gallery, Old Library and Chapel were all added by Christopher Wren.
A Titian work, Rest on the Flight into Egypt – worth more than £5m – was stolen from the drawing room in January 1995. It was found in a plastic shopping bag in London in 2002.4 Longleat staged the Red Bull Air Race in 2005. A copy of the painting The Fallen Madonna, a running joke from the BBC television sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!, was made for Henry Thynne and hangs in Longleat House.5
Media appearances
The house has been much used as a film location. For 30 years a Doctor Who Exhibition was hosted on the grounds,6 with an event celebrating the series's 20th anniversary being held at the house at Easter 1983. Other productions include Libel (1959), the Indian Hindi film Mohabbatein (2000)78 and the BBC show How to Improve Your Memory (2006).9 The music video for Toni Braxton's 1993 single "Breathe Again" was filmed at the house and gardens.10 Its interiors were used as a shooting location for the finale of season 3 and for scenes in season 4 of the television series Industry.11
Architecture
The tour of the house comprises: the Elizabethan Great Hall, with a minstrels' gallery; The lower east corridor, a wide room originally used as servant access to the main rooms. This now holds fine furniture and paintings. Also on display are two visitor books, one showing the signatures of Elizabeth II and Philip, the other Albert (George VI) and Elizabeth (the Queen Mother); the ante-library, with a magnificent Venetian painting on the ceiling; the Red Library, which displays many of the 40,000 books in the house; the Breakfast Room, with a ceiling to match the ante-library; the Lower Dining Room; the bathroom and bath-bedroom: the bath is a lead-lined tub of coopered construction, originally filled by hand from buckets and drained the same way; taps and drains are now provided. The lead lining was replaced in 2005. The room holds the first plumbed-in flush lavatory in the house; the State Dining Room, with a Meissen porcelain table centrepiece; the Saloon; the State Drawing Room, designed by Crace; the Robes Corridor; the Chinese Bedroom; the Music Room, with instruments including a barrel organ; the Prince of Wales Bedroom, so named because of a large painting of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the brother of Charles I; the upper west corridor; the Grand Staircase; and the banqueting suite on the top floor: the furniture and interiors designed by Claire Rendall,12 the dining table commissioned from John Makepeace13 and the chandelier from Jocelyn Burton.14
Longleat House was built in the sixteenth century by Sir John Thynn on the site of a dissolved priory, and in 1949 became the first stately home in Britain to be opened to the public on a commercial basis.2526 The house, park and attractions are open from mid-February to the start of November each year.27 The 9,800-acre (4,000 ha) estate, of which the park occupies 900 acres (360 ha), has long been one of the top British tourist attractions, and has motivated other large landowners to generate income from their heritage in response to rising maintenance costs.2829 Longleat leases 400 acres (160 ha) of land to Center Parcs for the operation of the Longleat Forest holiday village.30
The Longleat hedge maze is considered the world's longest, with 1.69 miles (2.72 km) of pathway. The layout was by maze designer Greg Bright.31 Over 16,000 English yews form the walls surrounding a central tower, and there are six raised footbridges.32
The family name was Thynn or Thynne in the 16th century, later consistently Thynne, until the 7th Marquess reverted to the spelling Thynn in the 1980s ↩