Burghley House

Burghley House (/ˈbɜːrli/) is a grand 16th-century country house near to Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Its park was laid out by Capability Brown.

The house is within the boundary of the City of Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire; it was formerly part of the Soke of Peterborough, an historic area that was traditionally associated with Northamptonshire. It lies 0.9 miles (1.4 km) south of Stamford and 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Peterborough city centre.

History

Burghley was built for Sir William Cecil, later 1st Baron Burghley, who was Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, between 1558 and 1587 and modelled on the privy lodgings of Richmond Palace. It was subsequently the residence of his descendants, the earls and, since 1801, marquesses of Exeter. Since 1961 it has been owned by a charitable trust established by the family.

Lady Victoria Leatham, antiques expert and television personality, followed her father, Olympic gold-medal winning hurdler and runner, IAAF President and MP David Cecil, the 6th marquess by running the house from 1982 to 2007. The Olympic corridor commemorates her father. Her daughter Miranda Rock is now the most active live-in trustee. However, the Marquessate passed in 1988 to Victoria's uncle William Martin Cecil and then to his son William Michael Anthony Cecil, both Canadian ranchers on land originally bought by the Fifth Marquess, who have not resided there.

Cecil House

Cecil House refers to two historical mansions on The Strand, London, in the vicinity of the Savoy. The first was a 16th-century house on the north side, where the Strand Palace Hotel now stands. The second was built in the early 17th century on the south side nearly opposite, where Shell Mex House stands today.

Exeter House

The first, also called Exeter House or Burghley House, was on the north side of the Strand; it was built in the 16th century by Lord Burghley as an expansion of an existing house; Cecil moved his London residence there in 1560, and Queen Elizabeth supped with him there in July 1561 "before my house was fully finished", Cecil recorded in his diary, calling the place "my rude new cottage" in a letter; When Cecil was created Lord Burghley in 1571, this London seat became known as Burghley House. In fact it was a symmetrical double-courtyard brick house of three storeys, with four-storey corner turrets. A central entrance led from The Strand into the front court At its garden front, with a central bay window and corner turrets, the house looked over gardens on grounds purchased from the Earl of Bedford and the earl's fields of Covent Garden beyond. The garden included a mount with a spiralling path to its top, a paved tennis court, a bowling alley and an orchard.