Woburn Abbey Maiden" (1962), "The Flower of Gloster" (1967) and "Treasure Hunt" (1986). In "The Protector's War", a post-apocalyptic alternate history novel by S. M. Stirling, Woburn Abbey serves as a prison for an English knight; the knight is rescued and flees to the Willamette Valley of Oregon in what was the United States of America. Attribution: Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey () occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to
Woburn Abbey 1145. Taken from its monastic residents by Henry VIII and given to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, in 1547, it became the seat of the Russell family and the Dukes of Bedford. The Abbey was largely rebuilt starting in 1744 by the architects Henry Flitcroft and Henry Holland for the 4th Duke. Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, originated the afternoon tea ritual in 19th-century England. In April 1786 John Adams (the future second President of the United States on tour with Thomas Jefferson—who would serve as his vice-president before becoming President himself) visited Woburn Abbey and other notable houses