Petworth House and Park

Important notice -

The house, café, shop, pleasure garden and both car parks are now closed to further restrict the spread of coronavirus. Petworth House is closed, please do not travel here.

Inspired by the Baroque palaces of Europe and nestled in the South Downs, Petworth House displays the finest art collection in the care of the National Trust.

More about this place

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Coronavirus update 

From end of Tuesday 24 March, we closed all our car parks to further restrict the spread of coronavirus. This followed the decision to close our parks and gardens in addition to our houses, shops and cafes. We urge people to stay local and observe social distancing. Please do not travel.

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Petworth House and Park

History

View of Petworth, West Sussex, seen over the lake, part of the Capability Brown landscaped parkland.

A snapshot history of Petworth House and Park 

Find out more about the history of Petworth from the family tree to the history of the building and even the story about the transformation of the formal garden to parkland.

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Petworth House and Park

Join or give

The West front of Petworth House

Dedicate a donation to Petworth House 

You can continue to support Petworth House & Park by dedicating a donation to someone special and adding your precious memories to our interactive map. A perfect way to celebrate a special occasion, such as a birthday or anniversary, your donation will help us continue to care for Petworth House & Park.

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Petworth House and Park

Art and collections

A photo of an open page of The 'Canterbury Tales' Chaucer manuscript at Petworth
Petworth   West Sussex

Read a digitised version of Petworth's Chaucer manuscript

There are incredible literary treasures at Petworth including one of the earliest copies of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'. We've digitised our copy so you can explore every page here.

Find out more
The Molyneux Globe in the North Gallery at Petwoth House

The Molyneux Globe at Petworth House 

Don't miss the Molyneux Globe when you visit the North Gallery. Made in 1592, this world-class object is thought to be the earliest English terrestrial globe in existence and at its time would have been the most up to date representation of how the world was understood.

Characters from Spenser's Faery Queen watercolour by William Blake (detail)

William Blake's dreamy rendering of The Faerie Queene 

Epic and intricate, The Faerie Queene dazzled Queen Elizabeth I when it was published. Nearly 250 years later, William Blake painted the poem’s characters in ethereal watercolours. But what do the characters represent, and how does Blake illustrate them?

2019 #Askacurator day

You asked - our curators answered 

On September 18th, we took part in 2019's #AskACurator day, a social media event brought to life to encourage dialogue between the public and museum curators all over the world. We received some fantastic questions, which Tatjana LeBoff, Assistant Curator at Petworth and Richard Ashbourne, Assistant Curator for London and South East, have answered for you.

Our collections

Explore the objects and works of art we care for at Petworth House and Park on the National Trust Collections website

Search the collections
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© National Trust Registered Charity 205846 Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon SN2 2NA

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