Castle Map

Palace

Chatsworth House

England · 16th century

Founded
1553
Style
English Baroque
Architect
Jeffry Wyatville, Joseph Paxton, Bess of Hardwick
Heritage status
Grade I listed building
Location
Bakewell
Coordinates
53.22778°, -1.61°
Links
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Official website ↗Wikipedia ↗
Chatsworth House in England
Photo: Rprof · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles (14 km) west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, across from hills between the Derwent and Wye valleys, amid parkland backed by wooded hills that rise to heather moorland.

Bess of Hardwick began to build the new Chatsworth House in 1553. She selected a site near the river, which was drained by digging a series of reservoirs, which doubled as fish ponds. Bess finished the house in the 1560s and lived there with her fourth husband, George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1568 Shrewsbury was entrusted with the custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, and brought his prisoner to Chatsworth several times from 1570 onwards. She lodged in the apartment now known as the Queen of Scots rooms, on the top floor above the great hall, which faces onto the inner courtyard. During the Stuart Restoration, William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, reconstructed the principal rooms in an attempt to make them more comfortable, but the Elizabethan house was outdated and unsafe.

William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire, started rebuilding the house in 1687. He aimed initially to reconstruct only the south wing with the State Apartments and so decided to retain the Elizabethan courtyard plan, although its layout was becoming increasingly unfashionable. In the 18th century, William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, made great changes to the house and gardens. He decided the approach to the house should be from the west.

Text adapted from “Chatsworth House” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Chatsworth House ranks #155 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #14 of the 397 mapped in England. Founded 1553, it is older than 37% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 933 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 59,561 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Sheffield, 19 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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