English Family Name

Cavendish

“English toponymic, from Cavendish in Suffolk, 'Cafna's enclosed pasture'”
“Cavendo tutus” · Safe through caution
House colours from the family arms — this name has no clan tartan tradition
Historic titleDuke of Devonshire
HeartlandDerbyshire & the Peak District
RegionEast Midlands

Despite the Devonshire title, the Cavendishes are a Derbyshire dynasty. Their fortune was built by Bess of Hardwick in the 16th century, and Chatsworth has been the family's home since 1549.

Ancestral seats

  • Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
  • Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
  • Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire

Where to walk in their footsteps

Access, opening hours and admission change. We confirm every site before it goes into an itinerary.

Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

Still the Duke's home, with house, garden, farmyard and a major art collection.

Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire

Bess of Hardwick's Elizabethan prodigy house, 'more glass than wall', National Trust.

Also recorded as

de CavendishCavenedis

Travelling to Cavendish country

Cashel Travel has arranged clan gatherings and heritage tours across Scotland and Ireland since the 1990s, including full gatherings for Clan Gordon, Hay, Keith, Lindsay, Hunter, Dunbar, Graham, Sutherland and MacLaren. We research the family history, build the itinerary around it, and arrange access to places that are not normally open to the public.

Plan a heritage tour