This is a new edition of the book that helped to establish a new canon of country house studies and inspire a national series, county by county. Almost a new book, it incorporates the results of additional research in the last 12 years. The great wealth of documents, drawings and printed sources in archives and libraries has been systematically exploited to throw light on the history of more than a 130 significant houses. This book will have great appeal to students of architectural, social and local history and to the general reader alike.