Woburn Abbey

House in Bedfordshire, England, 12 km/7 mi southeast of Milton Keynes. The present building contains an altered 17th-century wing but is otherwise of the 18th century, its main west range (1747–61) built by Henry Flitcroft, who also built the stables, and its south range (1787–90) built by William Chambers or Henry Holland. Woburn attracts a large number of visitors, not only to the house, but also to the safari park in the grounds, and other entertainments.

Holland also enclosed the court with an east range (demolished 1950), and designed some of the major rooms. The handsome buildings of Woburn are set in a vast park (about 1,200 ha/2,964 acres). The house contains many treasures, including 24 paintings by Canaletto, and works by Poussin, Claude, Reynolds, and Gainsborough.

Woburn has been the seat of the earls and dukes of Bedford since 1547, when the former Cistercian priory was bequeathed to John Lord Russell of Chenies, later the 1st Earl, by Henry VIII.