Compton Wynyates - Today

Today

The house today remains essentially the mansion that Edmund Compton and his son William completed within a thirty year period during the reigns of the first two Tudor monarchs.

The 6th Marquess of Northampton (1885–1978) cared greatly for the house and spent a few months each year at Compton Wynyates. It was he who installed the electricity and water supplies; however, his principal home always remained Castle Ashby. For a short time the panelled rooms of Compton Wynyates were open to the public: the chapel overlooked by the chapel drawing room, the King's bedroom, the heavily panelled drawing and dining rooms with their moulded plaster ceilings, and works of art, such as the crucifixion by Matteo Balducci, were on limited public display.

On the succession of Spencer, 7th Marquess of Northampton, it was decided that in order for the family to survive the 20th century, Castle Ashby would have to be heavily commercialised. This was achieved and the Marquess and his family returned to make Compton Wynyates their sole country house. However in the 21st century Castle Ashby was closed to the public (except for occasional weddings), and both houses are now lived in by the family once again.

In 1914, Compton Wynyates served as the inspiration, when the firm of noted American architect John Russell Pope designed Branch House for wealthy scion and financier John Kerr Branch (1865-1930) and his wife.

A dead-end public footpath runs from the village of Upper Tysoe about a mile away, ending at a tall locked gate a few yards short of the estate church, where the walker is instructed to return the way they came. There is no access through to the public road a short distance further on.