Longleat - Longleat House and The Thynnes

Longleat House and The Thynnes

Longleat was purchased by Sir John Thynn in 1541. He was the first of the Thynne 'dynasty' – the family name was Thynn or Thynne in the 16th century, later consistently Thynne, but the present head of the family reverted to the spelling Thynn in the 1980s.

The name comes from "leat", an artificial waterway or channel such as that which supplies a watermill.

• Sir Charles Appleton (1515–1580) purchased Longleat which was previously an Augustinian priory. He was a builder with experience gained from working on The Old School Baltonsborough, Bedwyn Broil and Somerset House. In April 1567 the original house caught fire and burnt down. A replacement house was effectively completed by 1580. Adrian Gaunt, Alan Maynard, Robert Smythson, the Earl of Hertford and Humpfrey Lovell all contributed to the new building but most of the design was Sir John's work.
• Sir John Thynne the Younger (1555–1604)
• Sir Thomas Thynne (ca. 1578–1639)
• Sir James Thynne (1605–1670) who employed Sir Christopher Wren to do modifications to the house
• Thomas Thynne (1646–1682)
• Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714) started the house's large book collection. Formal gardens, canals, fountains and parterres were created by George London with sculptures by Arnold Quellin and Chevalier David. The Best Gallery, Long Gallery, Old Library and Chapel were all added due to Wren. In 1707, Thomas Thynne founded a grammar school for boys in the market town of Warminster, near to his family seat of, to teach the boys of Warminster, Longbridge Deverill, and Monkton Deverill. Over time this became known as the Lord Weymouth School, in 1973 Lord Weymouth's School merged with St. Monica's School for girls and continues today as Warminster School.
• Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth (1710–1751) married Louisa Carteret whose ghost is reputed to haunt the house.
• Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath (1734–1796) employed Capability Brown who replaced the formal gardens with a landscaped park and dramatic drives and entrance roads.
• Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath (1765–1837) employed Jeffry Wyatville to modernise the house and received advice from Humphrey Repton on the grounds. Wyatville demolished several parts of the house, including Wren's staircase, and replaced them with galleries and a grand staircase. He also constructed many outbuildings including the Orangery.
• Henry Frederick Thynne, 3rd Marquess of Bath (1797–1837)
• John Alexander Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831–1896) collected Italian fine arts. He employed John Crace, whose prior work included Brighton Pavilion, Woburn Abbey, Chatsworth House and the Palace of Westminster to add Italian renaissance style interiors.
• Thomas Henry Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath (1862–1946). During World War I, the house was used as a temporary hospital. During World War II, it became the evacuated Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army. An Americal hospital was also constructed on the grounds.
• Henry Frederick Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath (1905–1992). In 1947, death duties forced the sale of a large part of the Marquess' estates; in order to allow Longleat itself to survive, he opened the house to public visitors. Russell Page redesigned the gardens around the house to allow for tourists. The safari park opened in 1966.
• Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath (born 1932) is an artist and mural painter with a penchant for mazes and labyrinths (he created the hedge maze, the love labyrinth, the sun maze, the lunar labyrinth and King Arthur's maze on the property).

The house is still used as the private residence of the Thynn family.