Coordinates: 51°04′41″N 1°51′22″W / 51.07808°N 1.85600°W / 51.07808; -1.85600 Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years.
The first recorded building on the site of Wilton House was a priory founded by King Egbert circa 871. Later, this priory, due to the munificence of King Alfred, was granted lands and manors until it became wealthy and powerful. However, by the time Wilton Abbey was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII of England, its prosperity was already on the wane — following the seizure of the abbey, King Henry presented it and the estates to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (in the 1551 creation) in c.1544.
Read more about Wilton House: William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, Hans Holbein, Inigo Jones, The State Rooms, 19th Century and James Wyatt, Secondary Rooms, The Gardens and Grounds, Today, Film and Television Set
Famous quotes containing the word house:
“If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.”
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962)