A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The house stands in a park of 1,500 acres which 

 has long been divided into three parts : the High 

 Park, containing a herd of 300 fallow deer ; the 

 Middle Park, adjacent to which lies Waterloo Plain, 

 so called from the great resemblance it was considered 

 to have to the field of Waterloo, a resemblance now 

 much diminished by the felling of trees; and thirdly 

 the Low Park, extending from the house to the town 

 of Stamford, which has for many years been opened 

 to the people of Stamford as a place of recreation. 

 The park is finely timbered, and of an undulating 

 character, especially near the house. 



Burghley from the days of Queen Elizabeth to the 

 present has been the scene of important and influential 

 activity both in politics and society. During the 

 Civil War it was threatened by Cromwell, who 

 pitched his camp on the hill to the south of the 

 house, and the south front shows where two of his 

 cannon balls struck the stonework. According to the 

 family tradition Lady Exeter's diplomatic remonstrance 

 to Cromwell prevented any further injury, and the 

 portrait of him in the house by Walker is said to 

 have been given by him to the countess. 



At the time of the Revolution the earl, who had 

 been one of those to join the forces of the Prince of 

 Orange, refused to take the oath to him as king, and 

 lived in some seclusion in the country. During 

 William Ill's progress in 1693, although he was 

 magnificently entertained at Burghley, the master 

 of the house was absent, suffering from diplomatic 

 illness. From that time to the present day the Cecils 

 of Burghley have been uniformly Tory in politics, 

 and strongly Protestant in religious convictions. All 

 through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they 

 have been at the head of the great Tory houses of 

 Northamptonshire.' 



WOTHORPE.—l^mhoT^t, Wridthorpe, xi to 

 to xiii cent. ; Wirthorp, xiv cent. ; Worthorp, xv to 

 xvi cent.). — Abbot Turketel, of Crowland, in the loth 

 century, is said to have given to that monastery the 

 ' vill ' of Wothorpe, and in the illustrated life of 

 St. Guthlac, put down by Birch to the 1 ith century, 

 Turketel is represented with a roll inscribed, ' I give 

 thee a sixth part of my inheritance, Wellingborough, 

 Beby, Cotenham, Hackington, Elmington, and 

 Wothorpe." In 1086 the abbot of Crowland held 

 in Wothorpe one and a half hides with a mill.' In 

 the I 2th century this holding is rated at two hides.* 

 A nunnery existed here, and was endowed with the 

 parish church of Wothorpe, but the date of the 

 foundation of the house is unknown.' 



The manor of Wothorpe remained with Crowland 

 until the dissolution of that house by Henry VIII, 

 when it was granted in 1 540 to Richard Cecil,^ 

 whose descendant, the Marquis of Exeter, now pos- 

 sesses it. 



The land in Wothorpe belonging to the abbot of 



Peterborough, formerly cilled Little Wothorpe, was 

 described in 1086 as three virgatcs of land pertaining 

 to Wittering, held by Alwin of the abbot.' The 

 nunnery of St. Michael was founded by Abbot William 

 of Watcrville on this land, which formed part of its 

 endowment, and remained in its possession until the 

 dissolution, when it was granted in 1540, with the 

 Crowland manor to Richard Cecil.' 



The parish church at Wothorpe has now entirely 

 disappeared. A vicarage was ordained there for 

 the nuns of Wothorpe by Hugh Wells between 1 209 

 and 1235,' and was, with the nunnery, united to 

 St. Michael's in 1354.'° ^" '535 ^1^^ profits of the 

 vicarage of which Robert Coke was incumbent were 

 nil." The advowson was granted with other lands of 

 St. Michael's to Richard Cecil in 1540." 



The ' handsome seat ' at Wothorpe, as Camden 

 calls it, of which hardly anything now remains be- 

 yond the central towers, was built by Thomas, the 

 eldest son of Lord Burghley, and first earl of Exeter, 

 early in the 17th century. His object in building it, 

 first quoted by Thomas Fuller, but often repeated 

 since, was ' to retire to out of the dust while hi? 

 great house of Burghley was a sweeping.' It may 

 be more properly regarded, however, as the dower 

 house, which was an adjunct to most of the great 

 houses of the time. It has no history, and there is 

 no mention of it by travellers or compilers of ancient 

 guide books ; we are not told how it was furnished 

 or how embellished. It was completely eclipsed by 

 its great parent, Burghley House. That vast mansion 

 absorbed all the admiration of visitors to this district, 

 and yet this house at Wothorpe was a notable piece 

 of work. It was of considerable size, and must have 

 been surrounded by a fine lay-out, of which, how- 

 ever, nothing but indications now remain. Camden 

 speaks of its ' little park w.ill'd about.' Terraces and 

 steps have gone, but several lofty walls of good 

 masonry survive, as well as an ornamental gateway on 

 the axial line at some little distance from the house." 



The style of the architecture is of some interest, as 

 it exhibits the gradual hardening process that changed 

 the free and light-hearted treatment of Elizabeth's 

 time into the more formal and laboured work of the 

 middle and end of the 17th century. It is curious 

 to see that in the cellars the flat-pointed head is still 

 used for the doorways, although all the work above 

 ground is of the cLissic detail prevalent at the time. 

 Although considered a mere appendage to the great 

 house at Burghley, Wothorpe was for some time sub- 

 sequent to the Restoration the residence of the duke 

 of Buckingham, and in 1755 was the home of the 

 dowager countess of Exeter. The modern Wothorpe 

 House is occupied by Lady Battle Wrightson. The 

 Lawn, which is occupied by Mr. George Higgs, and 

 Mr. H. R. Hunt's residence. The Elms, are also good 

 modern houses. 



^ Books about Burghley House : 

 Francis Peck, M.A., Desiderata Curiosa 

 (London, 1722). Thomas Blore, A Guide 

 to Burghley House (published by John 

 Drakard, Stamford, 1815). Rev. W. H. 

 Charlton, M.A., Burghley (Stamford, 

 1898). 'Burghley House," Tram. Brit. 

 Arch. Assoc. 1 898. J. A. Gotch, F.S.A., 

 * Homes of the Cecils,' in The Hist. Monog. 

 Ser.y IViUiam Cecily Lord Burghley (London, 

 T. C. and E. C. Jack, 190+). 



» Birch, Life of St. Guthlac, liii. 



8 V.C.H, Northants, !, 319*. 

 * Ibid. 367A. 



' See history in article on Religious 

 Houses in this volume. 



8 Pat. 32 Hen. VHI, pt. vii. No. 4. 

 ^ KC.H. Northants, i, 3153. 

 ^ See history in article on Religious 

 Houses. 



^ Liher Antiq. de Ordinationibus Hugonis 

 fydls (ed. Gibbons), p. 31. 

 1" Pat. 28 Edw. HI, pt. I, m. 16. 

 " Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 143. 

 " Pat. 32 Hen. VHI, pt. vii, m. 4. 



526 



*^ C. J. Richardson, in his Old English 

 AlansioriSj gives a plan and views of the 

 house, and a number of details, all taken 

 from drawings made by Mr. Legge (the 

 architect of the lodge at Burghley) pre- 

 vious to the demolition of the house about 

 the year 1790. From these it appears that, 

 from the main block, the ruins of which 

 still exist, two wings stretched towards 

 the south, thus forming a court, and it is 

 across the site of this that the farm road 

 now passes. 



