Chenies Manor House

About this place

Chenies Manor House is a Grade I listed Tudor manor in the village of Chenies, Buckinghamshire, on the edge of the Chilterns.

The Cheney family held the site from 1180, though the house standing today dates mostly from the 1530s.

John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, built it up to host the royal court, and it was once known as Chenies Palace despite never being a genuine royal seat.

The house remains in private hands and opens to the public on set days, with gardens known for their tulip and dahlia displays.

History

The manor passed by marriage through the Semark and Sapcote families before coming to the Russell family in 1526. John Russell enlarged the house to a scale fit for royal visits, but the family had shifted its main seat to Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire by around 1608. After that point Chenies was only partly maintained, and its grand north range, which had held the royal apartments, was eventually demolished. Chenies parish church still contains the private Bedford Chapel, used as the family mausoleum for centuries.

Architecture

The surviving Tudor ranges were built mainly by John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, between about 1530 and 1550. At the northern end of the west wing an undercroft survives from the earlier medieval manor house that stood on the same site, now a scheduled ancient monument.

Worth knowing

The house's Tudor apartments were built with hosting monarchs in mind, giving rise to its old nickname Chenies Palace, even though it was never an official royal residence. It is also used regularly as a filming location for television and film productions.

Gardens & grounds

The gardens are one of the main reasons people visit, particularly during the tulip and dahlia festival periods.

Facilities