Celebrate 450 years since Queen Elizabeth I visited Longleat with a special display

Celebrate 450 years since Queen Elizabeth I visited Longleat with a special display

Posted on: 27 Sep 2024

This month marks 450 years since the last Tudor monarch visited the beautiful stately home and the occasion has been marked with a display of costumes and documents.

 

‘Elizabeth I at Longleat’ runs at Longleat’s Great Hall until Sunday 3 November 2024.

 

Queen Elizabeth I stopped by Longleat as part of her 1574 Progress across the West Country. Against the backdrop of the Great Hall, visitors can discover more about this significant event through a display of original documents relating to the visit as well as Elizabeth I costumes from film and television.

 

Find out more and secure your entry ticket from the Longleat website.

 

 

The Great Hall is Longleat’s only surviving Elizabethan interior and, along with Lower Hotplate Corridor, this is where visitors will be able to learn about this historic visit and also view costumes from film and TV, including sumptuous replica coronation robes worn by Cate Blanchett and a magnificent gown worn by Dame Helen Mirren.

 

Longleat was built between 1567 and 1580 and has been lived in by sixteen generations of the Thynn family; in 1949 it became one of the first privately open to the public commercially. Steeped in history, today visitors can visit the house’s private collection, exhibitions, formal gardens, and parkland and take part in house tour experiences.

 

On her 1574 Progress, Queen Elizabeth I stayed at various stately homes throughout the West Country, including a stay at Longleat. When Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the house in 1980 to celebrate 400 years since Longleat was built, they studied documents associated with the 1574 visit.

 

The display has been running since the summer and can be viewed as part of a Guided House Tour, which takes place every 15 minutes. House tours are available as an add-on experience to entry for a small additional charge.

 

 

‘Elizabeth I at Longleat’ runs at Longleat’s Great Hall until Sunday 3 November 2024, find out more and secure your entry ticket from the Longleat website.

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Article by:

Stanley Gray

Stan is a born and bred Bristolian, recently graduated from studying English Literature in Sheffield. His passions are music and literature and he spends the majority of his time in venues all over the city, immersing himself in Bristol’s alternative music scene. A lifelong Bristol City fan, Stan’s Saturdays are spent watching his team both home and away.