Burghley House - Great North Road

Burghley House and the Great North Road

The route of Ermine Street runs through the Burghley House estate and remains a public footpath. The Roman road is visible as cropmarks and remnants of an agger, a substantial bank about 190m long. A 1956 excavation suggested the total width between the ditches was about 25m. The road linked the towns of Durobrivae and Great Casterton, crossing the Welland west of the current bridge in Stamford.

In Medieval times travellers on the Great North Road may have noticed in the distance the small village of Burghley. It was recorded in Domesday but was abandoned by 1450. Physical evidence of its site has probably been obliterated by the subsequent build of Burghley House and its grounds.

When Margaret Tudor processed north in 1503 it was at her grandmother’s palace at nearby Collyweston that she broke her journey. The crowds that greeted her as she entered Stamford may well have included David Cecil who was set to become an Alderman of Stamford and one of its MPs the following year. 50 years later it was David’s grandson, William, who was behind the massive building project south of the town.

The Burghley estate was extended in the late 18th century following the Enclosure Acts and came to reach as far as the Great North Road. The enlarged estate was walled and in 1801 a triple-arched gateway flanked by the three-storey “Bottle Lodges” was added to provide a stunning connection to the North Road.

Northbound motorists of the mid-20th century had more than ample time to admire the gateway and stone perimeter wall. They knew they were getting close to the interminable bottlenecks of Stamford. Southbound motorists did not spare them a thought; they were just relieved to be on their way.

Burghley House itself is carefully set back from the road so is not visible to the prying eyes of passers-by and enjoys its own views of the lake and magnificent deer park.

About Burghley House

Regarded by many as the finest Elizabethan House in England, Burghley House was built in the 16th Century by William Cecil, the 1st Lord Burghley.

The Early Cecils

The wealth that enabled the construction of Burghley House was accumulated by the Cecil family which over several generations in the late 15th and 16th centuries became trusted advisors to royalty.

David Cecil rose in favour under King Henry VIII of England, becoming High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1532 and 1533. His son, Richard was present at the “Field of the Cloth of Gold” in 1520 and was High Sheriff of Rutland by 1539. They were well placed to benefit from the dissolution of the monastic houses – of which there were many in Stamford. An earlier house on the Burghley site with remains of St Michaels Priory was in the possession of Richard Cecil by 1528.

Richard fell out with his son, William, over his choice of wife but none-the-less his son followed on as an advisor to the royal family and took over the family estate upon his father’s death in 1553.

William Cecil, Unknown artist, after 1572. Image Credit – National Portrait Gallery

William was only 35 and Elizabeth was yet to become queen when in 1555 he started out on the construction of Burghley House. His career, too, was about to take off. Pollard wrote:

From 1558 for forty years the biography of Cecil is almost indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth and from the history of England.

William was at the heart of government, shaping religious change, naval expansion, and international relationships, and promoting a new generation of merchant adventurers.

As well as Burghley, William had a town house in London and was responsible for Theobalds House near Cheshunt. Also close to the Old North Road, Theobalds was designed to consolidate his increasingly dominant status at the Royal Court, and to provide a palace large and fine enough to accommodate the Queen on her visits.

William was the father of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and founder of the Cecil dynasty which has since produced many politicians including two prime ministers.

The House

Burghley took nearly 40 years to complete and William Cecil was closely involved in its design. He described it as “my principal house”. Its grandeur was obvious from early days and provoked questions as to whether (and how) Cecil was achieving such a lifestyle. In a letter of 1585 he adopts a defensive line:

My house of Burghley, is of my mother’s inheritance who liveth and is the owner thereof; and I but a farmer. And for the building there, I have set my walls but upon the old foundation.

The stone used to build Burghley was from the local quarries of Northamptonshire oolitic limestone at Kings Cliffe and Collyweston giving cream to pale yellow colours: it is so durable that many of the ashlar blocks still show the masons’ identifying marks.

The hall with double hammer beam roof and the vaulted kitchen are the earliest parts and form the east side. The rest of the three-storey house is built around the other sides of a rectangular courtyard. The roofs cover one and a half acres with 76 chimneys, and a large variety of decorative cupolas and pinnacles. The square clock tower supported by lions and with obelisks at the corners is dated 1585 and is capped by a huge obelisk spire.

Burghley House Clock Tower. Image Credit – Burghley House Preservation Trust

Changes to the exterior were made in the 17th century when the open loggias around the ground floor were enclosed. Under the guidance of the famous landscape architect, Capability Brown, the south front was raised to alter the roof line, and the north-west wing was demolished to allow better views of the new parkland (disrupting the original E-shaped plan designed to honour Queen Elizabeth I).

The Gardens and Estate

The park enclosed by William Cecil was about 130 acres (50ha). By the mid-17th century it had been increased to 450 acres and today the estate is about 1,400 acres.

The main garden areas lay to the south of the House where canals, terraces, ponds, a maze and a vineyard were being constructed in 1700 under the direction of George London. This project was completed with the planting of the mile-long double bank of limes known as Queen Anne’s Avenue under the sixth Earl in 1702. These early gardens are those described by Celia Fiennes.

However, the landscape we see today was very definitely the work of Lancelot Brown who re-modelled the house’s setting during the mid-18th century. The design of the Middle and Lower Park was part of one of Lancelot Brown’s biggest and most important commissions, for which he produced a master plan in 1756. Brown discovered a lens of clay enabling him to enlarge the original 9-acre pond to the existing 26-acre lake. Its design gives the impression of a meandering river and it is crossed by the Lion Bridge designed by Brown in 1778. Not content with re-shaping the gardens and modifying the north façade of the house, changes during Brown’s involvement also included the addition of the stable block to the east.

The Lion Bridge underwent extensive renovation in 2021 supported by Historic England. Image Credit – Historic England

An Enduring Reputation

Generations of the Cecils have maintained the fabric of the building and have developed the interior adding art and furniture from around the world. Visitors today can see one of the most impressive assemblies of 17th century Italian masterpieces, an exceptional collection of Oriental and European ceramics, fine furniture, textiles and works of art, grouped together in a magnificent setting that remains a family home.

It has attracted admirers and visitors throughout its existence. In the 19th century it was visited by Victoria both before and after she became queen. In1835, the 16-year-old princess travelled from Belvoir Castle to Burghley down the Great North Road; her first impression was of “A fine, large and handsome house” – though it rained and apparently, she was rather out of sorts. She returned with Albert in November 1844. Celebrations included a feast, dancing and the baptism of the latest Cecil, Victoria. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert each planted a tree (an oak and a lime) in the private gardens on the south front of the house.

In 1842 Burleigh featured in a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. A young bride from humble background cannot adjust to the “burden of an honour unto which she was not born”. [The poem was loosely based upon Henry Cecil who in 1794 unexpectedly inherited the family home from his uncle.]

Thus her heart rejoices greatly,
Till a gateway she discerns
With armorial bearings stately,
And beneath the gate she turns;
Sees a mansion more majestic
Than all those she saw before:
Many a gallant gay domestic
Bows before him at the door.
And they speak in gentle murmur,
When they answer to his call,
While he treads with footstep firmer,
Leading on from hall to hall.
And, while now she wonders blindly,
Nor the meaning can divine,
Proudly turns he round and kindly,
‘All of this is mine and thine.’
Here he lives in state and bounty,
Lord of Burleigh, fair and free,
Not a lord in all the county
Is so great a lord as he.

The Burghley Horse Trials have been run every year since 1961 when the Marquess of Exeter, on hearing that the autumn three-day event at Harewood could no longer be held, invited the British Horse Society to transfer to his estate. The prestigious event brings thousands of visitors and extensive TV coverage each September.

Others have come to know Burghley as the backdrop to a wide range of TV series and films, including Middlemarch, The Da Vinci Code, and The Crown.