The Spencer family and Althorp are synonymous. John Spencer, whose fortune came from sheep farming on a prodigious scale, built the house in 1508. In that century, the ancestors of George Washington were the nannies to the Spencer family and at the beginning of the next James I’s wife Queen Anne of Denmark was entertained to a masque by a Ben Jonson masque here.
The house was remodelled by Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, in the 1670s, leaving it, in Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough’s view, the finest home in England. Robert Sunderland collected the alluring court beauties, painted by Sir Peter Lely, which can still be enjoyed in the 120-foot Long Gallery.
The building was smartly reconfigured by the architect Henry Holland in the 1780s. In a series of his stunning rooms you can find the magnificent furniture, works of art, and pictures collected by various members of the family for here and Spencer House in London.
The adjacent stable block, designed by Roger Morris, is one of the finest Palladian buildings in the country. Beyond lies the walled deer park and the lake which is the Earl's sister Diana, Princess of Wales, resting place.
