3-070-969 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches at Longleat, seat of the Marquis of Bath, 1881. 'The Saloon; The Drawing Room; Chimney Piece in Saloon; the Beech Grove; Entrance; The Waterfall; Garden View or East Front; South Front...Longleat...is one of the most magnificent country houses in England. The ancestor of Lord Bath, Sir John Thynne, in the time of King Edward VI., being secretary to the Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset and Protector of the realm, obtained large grants of confiscated church lands in Wiltshire. He next married a great City heiress, the only daughter of Sir Richard Gresham and sister of the famous Sir Thomas Gresham. Being thus made very rich, he built, from 1567 to 1578, a very grand house of mixed architectural styles, combining Tudor Gothic with Composite Grecian, which was a fashion of the period'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.