About the Tour

This tour is intended to give you an overview of the house and some of its contents. You will see rooms on this site (such as the State Rooms) which are not included in the real tour of Boughton House You can follow a structured tour by clicking the 'Next Room' link at the bottom of each page, or you can choose any room to view by using the Tour Index (upper right).
The Item Information Window (lower right), provides you with text information about the link items. Quick Time VR is available to view some of the rooms on the tour. Either go now to the QTVR page or view the individual QTVR's as you tour the house. We hope you enjoy your tour of Boughton House.

Brief History of Boughton House Boughton has been the home of the Montagus and their descendants since 1528.It started life as a simple Tudor manor, with a Great Hall at its heart and for 150 years it expanded gently, organically as various courtyards and appendages were added. Then in two decades of hectic building the long North front, where the visitor arrives, rose up, embracing State Rooms and Stables with its distinctive Mansard roof and the flavour of Versailles. For Ralph Montagu, later to be 1st Duke of Montagu , a passionate builder and patron of artists, craftsmen and decorators of every sort, this transformation was the pursuit of a dream – to bring French beauty and style to an English landscape. Yet magnificent though Boughton appears today, his original vision was never completed. One wing remains empty and new facades on the south and west fronts never materialised at all. Ralph’s son, John , the 2nd Duke was more interested in developing the formal garden and landscape which his father had embarked on. In retrospect we can see how fortunate this was. It left a rare amalgam of grandeur at face value and village like charm and complexity behind, with its plethora of courtyards , staircases, chimney stacks and roof levels. Boughton is today very much alive, a home, a place of beauty and serenity, a treasure house that opens its doors to visitors as it has done for centuries. The work of conservation and restoration goes on, the return of the State Bed in 2003 a striking symbol of that, whilst outside the form of its wonderful landscape is gradually re-emerging as the layers accumulated over the centuries are carefully peeled away.
North Front of Boughton House
Edward was the second son of Thomas Montagu of Hemington in Northamptonshire and was in his late thirties when in, 1528, he acquired part of the manor of Boughton from one Robert Burden. He owned land already in Northamptonshire and at least one house at Hemington, but was seeking to consolidate a small estate for himself as his own career and status progressed.	Edward Montagu
His success in the law having enabled him to establish the family’s foundations as landed gentry. Manors at Weekly,Warkton, Geddington and Kettering were acquired, and in 1541 he purchased the remainder of the Boughton manor, which had belonged to the Abbey of St Edmundsbury, 70 miles away in Suffolk. Sir Edward Montagu It is probable that there was an H-shaped building with a Great Hall at its centre facing south and a Great Chamber in the western arm.The evidence of the relatively new science of dendrochronology allows us to date the timber used in the roof beams to between 1510 and 1540.This makes it frustratingly difficult to be sure how much Edward bought and how much he built.The steepness of the roof pitch, which can be seen from the Fish Courtyard, marks it out from the surrounding buildings. At some stage, probably later in the 16th century, a freestanding block to the south was constructed to create an entrance courtyard, and thereafter the west wing was extended from the Great Hall end to link up and create an enclosure. Several other courtyards appeared as various outbuildings for kitchens, a laundry and a brew house were added later. It was an evolutionary process that was probably at its most active in the 1630s. Plan of the house (over the years)
Ralph 1st Duke of Montagu	Ralph is the single most significant individual in the story of Boughton. Born a younger son, he had few expectations until his brother Edward died in 1665 fighting at sea against the Dutch. Always driven to succeed and not overburdened with scruples, Ralph got his first foot on the ladder by succeeding Edward as Master of the Horse to Queen Catherine.
According to a contemporary he ‘daily advanced in favour at Court’ and was rewarded with the appointment as Ambassador to Louis XIV in 1666. The first of several appointments to the post - he served again from 1669-72, in 1676 and in 1677/8 - it was to transform his life. He was dazzled by Versailles and won over by the French King who ordered that the fountains should ‘play’ whenever he was visiting. What he saw there he dreamt of repeating in England in the houses he was to build for himself – Montagu House in London, and at Boughton – and through his influence on Court taste as Master of the Great Wardrobe, in 1671. We have no certain knowledge of the architect he employed, notwithstanding the mention in Colen Compbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (1715) of a Frenchman known as ‘Mr Poujet’. Research by the late Gervase Jackson-Stops makes a convincing association with drawings by Daniel Marot. Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu Ralph inherited Boughton in 1683., his son John died in 1749. For 65 years activity in the house and park was at its zenith. And then it fell silent. John’s heir, his daughter Mary, married a neighbour, the Earl of Cardigan at nearby Deene. Their daughter, also an heiress, married a Scottish Duke and his family, the Scots of Buccleuch, had plenty of houses of their own. So suddenly Boughton was no longer required, let alone centre stage. Thus there was no demand to refashion the house to the latest Victorian enthusiasm, nor by virtue of its 150 years of slumber did much wear out through over use. Any decay was gradual, inside and outside in particular where the intricate waterways slowly silted up
Views of the House reveal the extraordinary complexity, with its 7 courtyards, 12 entrances, 52 chimney stacks and 365 windows. The 1.25 acres of Collyweston tile roofing blend with the great spread of lawns, lakes, woods and over 250 year old avenues stretching for many miles. Notwithstanding the magnificence and beauty of this landscape, the land makes a serious contribution to the food and timber production of the Estate, a factor not only of national benefit, but also essential in providing for the maintenance of an historic asset such as Boughton as well as its five associated villages.
Without the continuous loving care of generations of family occupants, skilled craftsmen and the financial backing of an efficiently managed rural estate, house and villages would soon fall victim to the ever present threats of death watch beetle, dry rot and decay.
The special attraction of Boughton lies in the harmonious blending of the superb collections of paintings, furniture, tapestries, needlework, carpets, porcelain, arms and silver. All these in a setting of extreme beauty with a magical atmosphere to match, just as the artists, craftsmen and discriminating collectors had intended. These are the furnishings for a living home, for real people in their correct historical context. It is not a lifeless showcase, but a reminder to future generations of some of the higher cultural aspirations and achievements of civilised man.

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