The story of Chatsworth House

Chatsworth has belonged to the same family, the Cavendishes, since 1549, and it is still the seat of the Duke of Devonshire. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, surrounded by parkland and wooded hills that rise to heather moorland. The first great house here was begun in 1553 by a remarkable woman, Bess of Hardwick.

She chose a site near the river and drained it by digging a series of reservoirs, which also served as fish ponds, and she finished the house in the 1560s. She lived here with her fourth husband, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury – and in 1568 he was given the custody of a famous prisoner, Mary, Queen of Scots. From 1570 he brought her to Chatsworth several times, and she lodged in rooms on the top floor, still called the Queen of Scots rooms.

Later earls rebuilt the old Elizabethan house, which had become outdated and unsafe. Walk along the river and look back across the park at the house.