Hatfield House

Hatfield House, is a stately home and surrounding park located to the east of Hatfield, Hertfordshire , UK. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Sailsbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil family ever since. It is currently the home of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury. The house is open to the public.

Related Topics:
Stately home - Hatfield - Hertfordshire - UK - Jacobean - 1611 - Robert Cecil - King James I - Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury

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An earlier building on the site was the Royal Palace of Hatfield. Only part of this still exists, a short distance from the present house. This palace was the childhood home and favorite residence of Queen Elizabeth I. Built in 1497 by Henry VIII's minister John Cardinal Morton, it comprised four wings in a square surrounding a central courtyard. Only one wing remains.

Related Topics:
Royal Palace of Hatfield - Queen Elizabeth I - 1497 - Henry VIII - John Cardinal Morton

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Elizabeth's successor James I did not like the palace much and so traded it to Elizabeth's chief minister (and his own) Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury, in exchange for Theobalds which was the Cecils' family home. Cecil liked to build and so tore down three wings of the Royal Palace (the back and sides of the square) in 1608 and used the brick to build the present structure.

Related Topics:
James I - Robert Cecil - Earl of Salisbury - Theobalds

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Hatfield House is a popular tourist attraction because it has so many objects associated with Queen Elizabeth including some gloves and a pair of silk stockings that are believed to have been the first ones in England.

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