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- Robert: "You see a million bricks that may crumble, a thousand gutters and pipes that may block and leak, and stone that will crack in the frost"
- Matthew: "But you don't."
- Robert: "I see my life's work."
- — Robert and Matthew Crawley talk about Downton Abbey.[src]
Downton Abbey is an fictional estate located in the outskirts of Downton in Yorkshire, England, UK, and is the home of the aristocratic Crawley family.
Residents[]
Current Residents[]
- Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, his wife Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham
- Eldest daughter Mary Talbot, her husband Henry Talbot, their daughter Caroline Talbot, and Mary's son (with Matthew) George Crawley
- Among the family's servants, only two live in the house itself: Beryl Patmore and Phyllis Baxter
Former Residents[]
- Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Robert's mother
- Lady Rosamund Painswick, Robert's sister
- Edith Pelham, the middle daughter of Robert and Cora, and Marigold, Edith's illegitimate daughter
- Sybil Branson, the youngest daughter of Robert and Cora, and Tom's wife
- Matthew Crawley, Mary's first husband
- Rose Aldridge, Robert's first-cousin once-removed
- Robert and Cora's son-in-law Tom Branson and Tom's daughter Sybbie Branson
Known rooms and locations[]
For more information, see Rooms.
Downton Abbey is a very large and grand house with numerous rooms. Some of those that have appeared on screen are as follows:
Main house[]
- Entrance Hall
- Great Hall - with grand staircase
- Dining Room
- Servery
- Library
- Boudoir/Painted Room/Music Room
- Drawing Room
- Smoking Room
- Cora's Drawing Room
- Study
- Morning Room
- Mary Talbot's Bedroom
- Edith Pelham's Bedroom
- Sybil Branson's Bedroom
- Lord and Lady Grantham's Bedroom
- Lady Grantham's Bathroom
- Rose Aldridge's Bedroom
- Nursery
- Servants' quarters - sparsely furnished attic bedrooms with men's and women's bedrooms separate
- Anna and Gwen's Bedroom
- Jimmy's Bedroom
- Kitchen
- Servants' dining hall
- Butler's pantry
- Housekeepers' sitting room
Outdoors and estate[]
- John and Anna Bates' cottage
- Charles and Elsie Carson's cottage
- Garage
Media[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Behind the scenes[]
- Highclere Castle in Hampshire (west of London and far south of Yorkshire) is used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey as well as for some of the interior filming, with the servants' living areas constructed and filmed at Ealing Studios.
Possible inspiration[]
While Highclere Castle somewhat looks the part, it is not in Yorkshire (in the north of England) and none of the towns and villages named during the series are anywhere close (such as Ripon, Easingwold, Kirkbymoorside, Moulton, & Thirsk which are all in Yorkshire). While Julian Fellowes denies it, the best candidate is Newby Hall in Skelton, North Yorkshire, since it was the actual seat of the real Lord Grantham, named Thomas Philip Robinson.[1] Lord Grantham was left the estate in 1792 by the original owner, Robert Adam Weddell. Thomas Philip Robinson changed his name to Thomas Weddell and was subsequently also known as Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey. When Thomas Weddell died in 1859, while he passed his titles to his nephew, George Robinson, he left Newby Hall to his daughter Lady Mary Gertrude Robinson.[1] Perhaps more closely aligned to the characters in the series, a later descendant, Robert Charles de Grey Vyner (1842–1915), who was succeeded by his daughter Mary Evelyn Vyner who was left Newby in 1915.[1]
The advance team for the Downton Abbey did scout Newby Hall before choosing Highclere Castle, but Fellowes says the similarity is mostly coincidence.[2][3] Fellowes said: "I chose [the name] Grantham because when I was 11 I ran away from school and jumped on a train. Grantham was where the police picked me up." He was a former pupil at Ampleforth College, near Helmsley, which led him to develop an intense interest for the county and the local accent. He also said: "Once it had been decided, I put it in that particular area because I was at school at Ampleforth, so the towns of Ripon and Helmsley and Thirsk and Malton, and places like Easingwold and Kirkbymoorside all figured in my childhood and teenage years. I love Ripon, I love all those towns, although I dare say they are rather different now from the places I knew when I was growing up."[2]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2
Newby Hall
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Northern Echo - Newby Hall may be Downton Abbey inspiration By Stuart Minting 8th January 2013
- ↑ The Spectator - Defending the real Downton Abbeys by Robert Hardman 09 March 2013
See also[]
- Downton Abbey, the programme