URPoint Details
Please park in gravel courtyard in front of house. Not suitable for the disabled duration of visit: 1ﾽ hours (house) + refreshments. PLEASE NOTE - PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ALLOWED IN THE HOUSE
Drayton House has been a family home for almost a thousand years. The core of the house formed by Simon de Drayton about 1300 still survives, but it is especially important for the transformation its had during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Henry, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, a close friend of James II and French Ambassador, began to refurbish the house. Then after his death, his daughter Mary, with her second husband, Sir John Germaine an illegitimate brother of William of Orange, completed the scheme.
With his Royal connections, Germaine was able to attract to Drayton many of the craftsmen who were working at Hampton Court so there is furniture by Gerrit Jensen, ironwork by Jean Tijou and above all, magnificent architecture by William Talman. The chief furnishing to survive is a now unique embroidered State Bed of the early 1700s.
The house passed to the Sackville family in 1770, but they chose to redecorate in an Adam manner, only two rooms, the Dining Room and the Drawing Room.
The house,
- Type:
- Landmark