Woburn Abbey, comprising Woburn Park and its buildings, was set out and
founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1145. Taken from its monastic residents by
Henry VIII and given to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, in 1547, it became
the seat of the Russell family and the Dukes of Bedford. The Abbey was largely
rebuilt starting in 1744 by the architects Henry Flitcroft and Henry Holland for
the 4th Duke. Anna Maria, the wife of the 7th Duke, originated the afternoon
tea ritual in 19th-century England.
In April 1786 John Adams (the future second President of the United States
on tour with Thomas Jefferson—who would
