Here's our guide to the Grade I-listed stately home Chatsworth House, including the history behind the house and its parklands, what you can see there and what's been filmed there. Plus, what has it got to do with Jane Austen?
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The history of Chatsworth House
The house as we recognise it today can be traced back to the Tudor period. Bess of Hardwick (one of the most powerful women in Elizabethan England) persuaded her second husband, Sir William Cavendish, to buy Chatsworth manor in 1549 for £600. The first house on the site began to be built in 1552.
Mary, Queen of Scots, was a prisoner at Chatsworth at various times between 1569–1584, and her lodgings in the house are now called the Queen of Scots Apartments. Bess' eldest son, Henry Cavendish, inherited Chatsworth House, but he later sold it to William, the 1st Duke of Devonshire. The Devonshire family owned the house for over 500 years.
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Other royal visitors include Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. In a book written by Chatsworth's former head housekeeper, it was revealed that Prince William spent two weeks living and working at the estate in 2005.
Chatsworth House has been rebuilt several times since, yet it remains capable of transporting you back to an era of Elizabethan royalty.
Where is Chatsworth House?
Chatsworth House is in the Derbyshire Dales in the Peak District – 4 miles north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles west of Chesterfield. As a classic stately home built in the early 1550’s, the Chatsworth estate remains one of the great wonders of the Peak District. Set amongst the complementary splendour of the Peak’s rolling hills, and backed by the heathered woodland of the Derwent and Wye valleys, Chatsworth’s grounds are a vision.
Who owns Chatsworth House?
The Chatsworth House Trust owns the estate – not the National Trust, as is sometimes thought. The Chatsworth House Trust is a charitable foundation set up on behalf of the Cavendish family, who owned Chatsworth House for over 500 years and through 17 generations.
Who lives in Chatsworth House?
The 12th Duke, Peregrine Cavendish, and his wife Amanda lived in the private family rooms of Chatsworth House until around 2023. They later moved to a smaller property on the estate, with the intention that their son and his family would move in to the family rooms in the main house.
What was filmed at Chatsworth House?
Many historical dramas have been filmed at Chatsworth House, including The Duchess (2008), The Wolfman (2010) and Peaky Blinders (2013-2022). Chatsworth also attracts plenty of Jane Austen fans, as it was used as Mr Darcy's fictional Pemberley estate in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and it is also used as Pemberley in the BBC's Death Comes to Pemberley (2013). In 2024, BBC News reported that the house was closed for five days of filming by an unnamed "major online streaming platform".
In The Duchess, Keira Knightley plays Georgiana Cavendish, a real-life 18th century aristocrat who was married to the 5th Duke of Devonshire, and who became mistress of Chatsworth.
What is Chatsworth House famous for?
The estate is home to one of Europe’s most significant private collections of artwork. The collection boasts sculptures, tapestries, furniture and books dating to classical times: including drawings and paintings from Da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt, as well as Greek, Roman and Ancient Egyptian sculptures.
Its grounds, which span a 105-acre garden and a 1,822-acre park, also draw in plenty of crowds. Capability Brown helped redesign the grounds in the 18th century, and much of this can still be seen today.
English rose gardens, rockery ponds, cottage and kitchen inspired shrubbery patches, and rare species of flora are entwined with over five miles of pathways. Accompanying the garden is a fantastic display of water features, including the globally renowned 300 year-old Cascade. Joseph Paxton, head gardener of the 19th Century, became legendary for his design of the Great Conservatory and the gravity-fed Emperor fountain.
Main image: Chatsworth House south front and Emperor Fountain in spring / Chatsworth House Trust
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