The History of Chatsworth

Chatsworth, with its elegant façade, became known as the 'Palace of the Peaks' a reference to the nearby Derbyshire Peak District. It has been home to no less than 12 Dukes of Devonshire and has undergone many facelifts in its long history.

Chatsworth was conceived and executed by Bess of Hardwick (see The History of Hardwick Hall). The young widow married Sir William Cavendish, who bought the estate in 1549 and although William died five years after building began, Chatsworth has stayed in the Cavendish family ever since.

North, south, east and west
The Fourth Earl of Cavendish was made the First Duke of Devonshire in 1694 for his part in bringing William of Orange to the English throne. He set about remodelling the house to create state apartments worthy of royal visitors and once he started he couldn't stop. He created the Long Gallery, the Painted Hall, a new East Front, the famous cascade and numerous outbuildings. Next, he ordered new South and North Fronts for the house and finally he could not resist redesigning the West Front himself! When he died in 1707, Chatsworth was unrecognisable from the house that Bess built.

Three's a crowd?
In Chatsworth's long history, some characters stand out. Lady Georgina Spencer who married the Fifth Duke was a great beauty, painted by Joshua Reynolds and Gainsborough, but it was her unconventional marriage which made her famous. The Duke had a longstanding liaison with her close friend Lady Elizabeth Foster which apparently Georgina did not mind - all three are said to have got on like a house on fire!

Paxton's Palace
The Sixth Duke appointed a young gardener named Joseph Paxton who went on to become world-famous for his spectacular Emperor Fountain with its 280ft jet of water (a major engineering feat of its day). Paxton's design for the Great Conservatory (now demolished) was also the prototype for the 'Crystal Palace' that Paxton would go on to build at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Is Chatsworth Pemberley?
Jane Austen fans will recognise the exterior of Chatsworth as the location for the 2005 film of Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. But was 19th-century Chatsworth the real inspiration for Austen's description of Darcy's house? Some scholars think so - Jane Austen visited Derbyshire, and a contemporary painting of the house bears an uncanny resemblance to her description of the house. Certainly the heroine Elizabeth Bennet thought that 'to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!'

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