Summary

A Grade I listed French-style oque house near Kettering in Northamptonshire, seat of the Dukes of Buccleuch, used as a filming location for Les Misérables (2012) and Napoleon (2023, directed by Ridley Scott).

About this location

Boughton House stands near the village of Weekley, three miles north of Kettering in Northamptonshire. The house was built in a series of additions from the 1680s onwards for Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, who had served as English ambassador to France and sought to create a house in the French oque manner. The result — a long north range modelled on Versailles, with dormers, pavilion ends, and a courtyard arrangement — has led to the house being nicknamed “the English Versailles”, though the south side of the building presents a more conventional Jacobean facade from the earlier house on the site. The house contains substantial collections of paintings, furniture, and tapestries assembled by the 1st Duke and his descendants.

Boughton has been the seat of the Dukes of Buccleuch since the 1st Duke’s daughter married the 2nd Duke of Buccleuch, and the house holds significant collections from both families. The estate also preserves an 18th-century formal garden which has been partially restored in recent decades. The house hosts the Greenbelt Festival annually in its .

The house’s film record reflects the scale and architectural character of its north facade. Les Misérables (2012, director Tom Hooper, starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe) filmed at Boughton, using the oque range for exterior scenes. Napoleon (2023, director Ridley Scott, starring Joaquin Phoenix) used the house as a filming location, taking advantage of its French architectural character for scenes depicting early 19th-century French aristocratic settings.