Thomas, Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer’s eldest son, was created Earl of Exeter in 1605; and Henry, tenth Earl of Exeter and eleventh Lord Burghley, his lineal descendant, was created Marquis of Exeter in 1801. His son, Brownlow Cecil, the second Marquis, who succeeded his father in 1804, is the present possessor of the princely mansion and estates.
The mansion we are about to notice is built on ground where there is but little undulation of surface, and stands about a mile and a half from the old town of Stamford, in Northamptonshire, separated from Lincolnshire by the river Welland, which runs through Stamford. At the northern extremity of the domain stand the park lodges: they are extremely handsome erections, and more than usually important buildings for such purposes. Although built so recently as the year 1801, by Henry the tenth Earl, they are in perfect harmony of design with the main edifice. The cost of their erection exceeded 5000l. The park is about two miles in length and a mile and a half in width. It was arranged and planted by the famous “Capability Brown,” and is well adorned with fine ash, elm, chestnut, and other trees, as well as plantations of shrubberies. A temple, grottos, and picturesque buildings for domestic or agricultural services, add to its beautiful character. It is well stocked with deer. On entering the park to proceed to the house, a noble piece of water, three quarters of a mile in length, is spanned by a handsome bridge of three arches, having the balustrades decorated with four statues of lions couchant. In the park enclosure are the remains of the ancient Roman road, called Ermine Street, from Stilton through Castor to Stamford: it is easily traceable in many parts.
On arriving opposite the mansion, the eye is bewildered at its unusual extent: its numerous turrets, and the spire of the Chapel rising above the parapets, give it the aspect of a town comprised in comparatively diminished area, rather than a single abode. The appended engraving exhibits a portion of the west front. The mansion stands in an extensive lawn. Mr. Gilpin, in his “Tour to the Highlands,” thus describes it:—“Burghley House is one of the noblest monuments of British architecture of the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the great outlines of magnificence were rudely drawn, but unimproved by taste. It is an immense pile, forming the four sides of a large court, and although decorated with a variety of fantastic ornaments, according to the fashion of the time, before Grecian architecture had introduced symmetry, proportion, and elegance into the plans of private houses, it has still an august appearance. The interior court is particularly striking: the spire of the Chapel is neither, I think, in itself an ornament, nor has it any effect, except at a distance; when it contributes to give this immense pile the consequence of a town.” Horace Walpole says, John Thorpe was the architect; and that he superintended the erection of the greater part of this stupendous building. This assertion is corroborated by the plans, still extant, in this celebrated architect’s collection of designs, now in the Soane Museum. It is built of freestone and forms a massive parallelogram, enclosing a court 110 feet long and 70 feet wide. The principal entrance is on the north side,
and offers a frontage of nearly 200 feet, pierced with three ranges of large square-headed windows, divided by stone mullions and transoms. The outline is varied by towers at the angles surmounted by turrets with cupolas; the frontage is varied by advancing bays between the towers; a pierced parapet, occasionally embellished with ornaments that mark the Elizabethan era, crowns the walls. The chimneys are constructed in the hollows of Doric columns, which are in groups, connected by a frieze and cornice of the order; as they are very numerous, and of fine proportions—rising loftily in the air—they combine with the turrets, &c. to give a great variety of forms to the superior portion of the main design. In the arched roof under the passage to the interior court, which was in the first instance intended to be the chief entrance, are escutcheons of the family arms, on one of which is inscribed “W. DOM de Burghley, 1577,” being the year when that part of the house was built. On the opposite side of the court, over the dial and under the spire, is carved the date 1585, which indicates when that part was erected; and on the present entrance, on the northern side, stands the date 1587 between the windows. The house has been much adorned by various successive possessors, and at the present time few seats, either in England or on the Continent, can vie with Burghley House.
Queen Elizabeth frequently visited her favourite minister, her Lord Treasurer, here; and on April 23, 1603, James I., on his journey from Scotland, came to Burghley: the next day, being Easter Sunday, he attended divine worship at the parish church, St. Martin’s, Stamford, when the Bishop of Lincoln preached before him.
Entering the court, the beauties of the architecture become apparent. The appended engraving represents the entrance from the courtyard. The eastern side is the most highly decorated, and its three stories adorned with the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, in super-position. Above the last are two large stone lions, supporting the arms of the family. Over an arch before the chapel is a bust of King William III.; the balustrades are enriched with a variety of sculptured vases. Four large gates from the various sides open into the court, and give entrance to the several portions of the building, which contains nearly one hundred and fifty apartments, many of them of great dimensions, all furnished suitably for their purpose, and a considerable number in gorgeous profusion of decorative ornament and splendid furniture. It is one of the few palatial mansions of a refined, gay, and brilliant period, which remain carefully preserved, and undisturbed by modern upholsterers. It is impossible to speak too highly of the elegance and splendour of the interior. The first apartment on entering is the spacious Hall: from some of the remaining features of its construction, it has been imagined that the great Lord Treasurer did not build a new house from the foundation, but that an edifice existed to which he imparted vastness by the additions he made. The dimensions of this Hall show at once that it includes a noble space, being sixty-eight feet long and thirty feet broad. It receives light from two large windows, and has a fine open-worked timber roof, springing from corbels, very similar in idea to the roofs of Westminster Hall, and the Parliament House at Edinburgh. The chimneypiece is in perfect keeping with the Baronial Hall, and is of stone, finely sculptured, bearing for its principal device in the centre the shield and supporters of the founder of the family; it is also ornamented by a number of pictures, some of which are portraits. There are statues in marble of life size, one of which, very much esteemed, represents Andromeda chained to the rock, and the Sea-monster. It was purchased in Rome, a century ago, by the fifth Earl of Exeter, for 300l. “Drakard’s Guide” attributes it to Peter Stephen Monnot; but Brydges, in his “History of Northamptonshire,” says it is by Domenico Guidi.
From the Hall, visitors pass through the Saloon, and up the ancient grand vaulted stone staircase in the north-west part of the house, to an apartment called the Chapel Room, which contains nearly fifty pictures, mostly of sacred subjects. A true description of the numerous pictures in the different rooms is sadly wanted, as we find one here called Titian’s Wife and Son, attributed to Teniers! in “Drakard’s Guide,” published at Stamford. Here also stands a model of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, curiously inlaid. The Chapel, to which the preceding serves as an ante-room, is spacious, being forty-two feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and eighteen feet high. The ceiling is panelled and studded with devices; the side-walls are wainscoted half-way up, and at intervals are placed, on pedestals, ten antique bronzed figures, of life size, each holding a lamp. Festoons of fruit and flowers, carved by Grinling Gibbons, are its principal ornaments. Many of the finest apartments in the house, such as chimneypieces, are profusely decorated with his valuable carving. A seat on the left-hand side, nearest to the altar, is pointed out as having been occupied by Queen Elizabeth when on a visit to Burghley. There are some large pictures placed on the walls of another space, which forms also a portion of the Chapel at the western end. This part, thirty-one feet long and twenty-four feet broad, is wainscoted to the ceiling, and is filled with open seats, for servants and others connected with the family to attend divine service.