Woburn Abbey

Woburn Abbey stands on the eastern edge of Woburn village in Bedfordshire. It began in 1145 as a Cistercian abbey and became a family home after Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1538. The Russell family took possession in 1547 and rebuilt the house around 1630 under Francis Russell, the 4th Earl of Bedford. Later, architects Henry Flitcroft and John Sanderson carried out a second rebuilding between 1747 and 1761. The estate includes Humphry Repton’s landscape gardens and a deer park. The house is notable for its art collection and its role in history. In 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson visited while touring English country houses. During the Second World War, the Political Warfare Executive used the Abbey as its headquarters. After the war, dry rot led to half the building being demolished, but the 13th Duke reopened it to the public in 1955, adding Woburn Safari Park in 1970 to help pay death duties. Visitors find a Grade I listed house with more than twenty drawing rooms and rooms dedicated to paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Canaletto and Van Dyck. The gardens designed by Repton and the deer park remain open alongside the safari park and a miniature railway. The art collection includes works by Rubens, Velázquez and Rembrandt, displayed in the historic setting of the former abbey.