Woburn Abbey

Woburn Abbey

Woburn Abbey is a country house and the home of the Russells, Dukes of Bedford. It stands on the site of and incorporates small amounts of fabric from a Cistercian abbey founded in 1145 by Hugh de Bolebec, which was granted to Lord John Russell, later 1st Earl of Bedford, in 1547.

The building was rebuilt around 1630 by Francis, 4th Earl. Little of this original work survives due to extensive subsequent reworkings carried out between 1747 and 1761 by Henry Flitcroft, based on plans by John Sanderson, and between 1787 and 1790 by Henry Holland. William Chambers made lesser contributions. The structure is built in ashlar, principally Ketton oolite and Totternhoe clunch, with slated mansard roofs.

The original building formerly had a quadrangular plan. The east wing and the east ends of the north and south wings were demolished in 1949–50. Following this demolition, Sir Albert Richardson added pavilions to the north and south wings. The building now comprises 2 storeys with attics, and 3-storeyed pavilions.

The north elevation is irregular. A fairly intact 17th-century facade survives on the right-hand two-thirds, featuring a heavily rusticated loggia on the ground floor of the central bay and round-arched niches between windows on both floors of the outer bays. The whole elevation has sash windows in a variety of openings and surrounds, with the windows to the 17th-century section symmetrically arranged.

The west elevation, now the front, was designed by Flitcroft and is symmetrical. It features a central pedimented block with pavilions at the outer angles. The window arrangement is 1:5:3:5:1, with sashes throughout featuring glazing bars. The outer pavilions have Venetian windows to the first floor and Diocletian windows to the second floor. Other first-floor windows have eared architraves and triangular pediments, the central three displaying broken pediments. The ground floor is rusticated. The central block at ground floor has three round arches, the central one containing part-glazed double doors and the outer ones sashes. Above this are four engaged giant-order Ionic columns. The tympanum contains a carved Russell achievement. Balustraded parapets crown the lower blocks, behind which sit gabled dormers. Various multiple chimney stacks punctuate the roofline. Adjoining the main block at both ends are small single-storeyed rusticated blocks, each with a round-arched doorway and balustraded parapet terminating in a carved sphinx on a rectangular plinth.

The south elevation is thought to have been designed by Chambers but was heavily reworked by Holland. It is truncated, although symmetry has been maintained by Richardson's work. The ground slopes higher to the south side than elsewhere, being at the first floor level of the building. The main block is the same height as the pavilions, creating a 2-storeyed facade. The window arrangement is 2:9:2 sashes with glazing bars. Ground-floor windows are full-length, with shouldered architraves and triangular pediments; those to the outer bays are set into shallow round-arched recesses. A balustraded parapet crowns the elevation. A stone-flagged terrace runs along the entire length.

The interior retains some 17th-century features, particularly an ornate grotto in the north wing attributed to Isaac de Caux, decorated with nymphs, putti, and masks in carved stone with inlaid shells. Elsewhere the interior is predominantly enriched by ornamentation from the Flitcroft and Holland alterations. Many chimney pieces are the work of Rysbrack and Deval. The south range contains Holland's tripartite library. The north range includes a room with Chinese wallpaper depicting birds, plants, and trees, and a Rococo ceiling.