Boughton House: The English Versailles
Overview
Originally a monastery, Boughton House was transformed into a grand manor by Edward Montagu in 1528, later enhanced with French architecture and now remains a treasured home of the Buccleuch family, celebrated for its exceptional art and innovative agricultural practices.
History
Boughton, sometimes described as ‘the English Versailles’, began life as a monastery. In 1528 the lawyer Edward Montagu bought the building from St Edmundsbury Abbey and built a manor house onto its great hall. Inheriting Boughton in 1683, Ralph Montagu, later 1st Duke of Montagu, former British ambassador to Paris, brought French architectural influences to Boughton and a touch of Versailles to the English countryside, and his son transformed the gardens, building an elegant canal in the park. A century later, Lady Elizabeth Montagu married Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, a descendant of Charles II via his illegitimate son James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, and the house was absorbed into the enormous Buccleuch empire. With the duke preoccupied with his larger Scottish estates, Boughton entered its deep sleep, unused by the family in any meaningful way until the early 20th century. It remains one of the current duke, Richard Montagu Douglas Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry’s homes today, and is rightly beloved by the family, who are one of the largest landowners in the country.
Best known for
Its genuinely extraordinary collection, including paintings by Antony Van Dyck and Thomas Gainsborough, painted ceilings by Louis Chéron, Sèvres porcelain, Mortlake tapestries, and French furniture given to the Duke of Montagu by Louis XIV.
As seen in…
Ridley Scott’s 2023 Napoleon and Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables (2012).
Future-planning
In 2022, the team at Boughton introduced an eight-year arable cycle to enhance soil fertility on the 11,000-acre estate and to reduce carbon emissions.
Don’t go home without seeing
The 18th century Chinese pavilion, which once stood in the grounds of Montagu House on London’s Whitehall, and now lives in Boughton’s unfinished wing – left that way when the house was deserted by the family. Outside, don’t miss Orpheus, a landform in the gardens by the landscape architect Kim Wilkie, commissioned by the current duke – an inverted grass pyramid that descends seven metres, the water at its base reflecting the sky.
Drop by…
The Star Inn in Geddington for food and drinks.
Need another local heritage fix?
Look up Deene Park or Rockingham Castle, both ten miles away
Our favourite line
‘It is the stillness, the curious quiet of Boughton, for the place is half asleep, that impresses the most’ – Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, 1948
