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| Houghton House |
Just enough time for a little stop off at another English Heritage property on the way home from Wrest Park.
All that remains thee days is the shell of a 17th century mansion that commands magnificent views over the local countryside. The mansion was built in 1615 for Mary, Countess of Pembroke. It is a mixture of classical and Jacobean styles. It was reputedly the inspiration for the ‘House Beautiful’ in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.the ground floors of two Italianate loggias survive. A loggia is an outdoor corridor or gallery with a fully covered roof and an outer wall that is open to the elements.
In 1738 the 4th Duke of Bedford bought Houghton. His son, the Marquis of Tavistock, lived there from 1764 until he died in a hunting accident in 1767.
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The 5th Duke of Bedford rented the hunting park to a neighbour. Subsequently unable to let the house without the park, he ordered Houghton to be dismantled in 1794. The interior was completely gutted, leaving no hint of its former glory.
In the early 1770s the Earl of Upper Ossory commissioned Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to landscape nearby Ampthill Park. He included Houghton House as a feature in the design though it lay outside the boundaries of his estate. Later, in 1804 the Earl acquired the park and the ruins of Houghton House. Today the house still dominates the landscape, providing wonderful views over its former hunting park.
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