Knebworth House

Knebworth House is a country house and estate in Hertfordshire, England, near Stevenage and the village of Knebworth. The estate has been associated with the Lytton family since the late fifteenth century, when Sir Robert Lytton bought the manor. The present house includes the remaining wing of an older Tudor courtyard house, later transformed in the nineteenth century into a Tudor Gothic mansion with turrets, domes, battlements, gargoyles, formal gardens, parkland and wooded estate grounds. Its dramatic exterior and richly decorated interiors have made it one of Hertfordshire’s major filming locations.

Knebworth House has appeared in The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Shooting Party (1985), The Lair of the White Worm (1988), Batman (1989), The Wings of the Dove (1997), Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004), Nanny McPhee (2005), The King’s Speech (2010), Victoria & Abdul (2017), Paddington 2 (2017), Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020), The Crown (2016–2023), You (2018–2025) and The Flash (2023). It has often been used as a fictional aristocratic house, royal residence or wealthy private estate.

In The Great Muppet Caper (1981), Knebworth House appears as the Mallory Gallery. The building is used as the grand art museum connected to Lady Holiday and the theft of the Baseball Diamond. The house’s exterior gives the fictional gallery the appearance of a fortified country-house museum, while the story turns the location into the centre of the film’s jewel-theft plot.

In The Shooting Party (1985), Knebworth House stands in for the estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby. The film is set in 1913 and follows a weekend shooting party among the British upper classes shortly before the First World War. The house and grounds are used as the main country-estate setting for the gathering, with the interiors, gardens and surrounding land placing the story inside an Edwardian aristocratic world.

In The Lair of the White Worm (1988), Knebworth House appears as D’Ampton Hall. The house is connected to Lord James D’Ampton, whose family history is tied to the local legend of the D’Ampton Worm. The film uses the house as the ancestral seat behind that legend, contrasting the respectable country-house setting with the strange folk-horror events taking place around the village and nearby caverns.

In Batman (1989), Knebworth House appears as Wayne Manor, the home of Bruce Wayne. The film uses the Gothic exterior of the house for Bruce’s estate, giving Wayne Manor a dark, old-world appearance outside Gotham City. The house is seen as Bruce’s private residence, separate from the city streets and criminal world of Gotham. The main interior Wayne Manor scenes were filmed elsewhere, so Knebworth House is most important as the exterior identity of the mansion.

In The Wings of the Dove (1997), Knebworth House stands in for Lord Mark’s country estate. The house is used as part of the upper-class world surrounding Kate Croy, Merton Densher and Milly Theale, contrasting London society and Venice with the rural aristocratic setting connected to Lord Mark.

In Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004), Knebworth House appears as part of the film’s British estate material. The sequel follows Cody Banks to England, where the story moves between London, schools, government settings and country-house locations. Knebworth House and its grounds are used to give the film one of its large English estate settings.

In The King’s Speech (2010), Knebworth House is used for scenes set at Balmoral Castle. The Banqueting Hall, Armoury Staircase and cellar appear during the Balmoral sequence, including scenes connected to George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. The house’s interiors stand in for the royal Scottish residence, while other locations were used for different royal interiors elsewhere in the film.

In Victoria & Abdul (2017), Knebworth House again stands in for royal residences. The production used the house for interior scenes representing Windsor Castle and Balmoral Castle. The scenes include Queen Victoria’s private and official world, with the house’s State Drawing Room and other interiors helping create the royal settings around Victoria and Abdul Karim.

In Paddington 2 (2017), the grounds of Knebworth House are used for the travelling fair. The fairground scene is connected to the pop-up book plot and places Paddington and the Brown family in a bright outdoor setting away from the streets of London. The estate grounds provide the open space for the fair, rather than the house itself being the main focus.

In Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020), Knebworth House appears as Alexander Lemtov’s British house. The mansion is used for the extravagant party sequence where Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdóttir are drawn into Lemtov’s wealthy, theatrical world. The house’s exterior and interiors give the party a grand country-house setting, contrasting with the smaller Icelandic locations connected to Lars and Sigrit.

In The Crown (2016–2023), Knebworth House is used for scenes set at Balmoral Castle. The interiors stand in for parts of the Scottish royal residence, while exterior Balmoral material was filmed elsewhere. The house appears as part of the series’ wider network of British country houses used to represent royal homes, private rooms and official spaces.

In You (2018–2025), Knebworth House appears in season 4 as Hampsbridge House, usually called Hampsie, the country estate of Lady Phoebe. Joe Goldberg joins the group for a weekend away in episodes 4 and 5, where the estate becomes the setting for the escalating “Eat the Rich” mystery. Most of the Hampsie house material was filmed at Knebworth House, while the hunting-woods material was filmed elsewhere.

In The Flash (2023), Knebworth House returns to the Batman screen world as Wayne Manor. The film uses the house as the exterior of Bruce Wayne’s mansion, visually connecting Michael Keaton’s older Batman to the Wayne Manor seen in Batman (1989). The Gothic gates and mansion exterior are used for the approach to Bruce’s estate, while other Wayne Manor interiors were filmed at different locations.

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