Knebworth House in North Hertfordshire is a remarkable historic site. It has been in the ownership of the same family, the Lyttons, since 1490. Their original historic house was replaced with the modern gothic building in the 1830s, and the family have continued to adapt and improve the house and gardens ever since. Both the house and the gardens are Grade II* listed monuments.
Knebworth is better known for some historic rock gigs at the wold-famous Knebworth Festival. Officially the crowds are around 100,000 people. In practice many more got in without tickets, in the good old rock tradition. Highlights include:
- The Rolling Stones in 1976: infamous for the Stones going on stage hours late, because they could.
- Led Zeppelin in 1979
- Oasis in 1996: perhaps Britpops high point
- Robbie Williams in 2003
Playing Knebworth can mark an end point as well as a high point. Both Queen (1986) and The Beach Boys (1980) played their last gigs with their original line-ups at Knebworth, prior to the deaths of Freddie Mercury and Dennis Wilson
As well as music the house now uses every other way of turning a historic building in to a future cash flow. Lots of films and tv shows have filmed there. There are Christmas specials and Halloween events, and wedding venues, of course. If you have the time and the money to spare, details are here.