The mansion in the village overlooks Rutland Water. The first house was owned by Sir John Harington of Exton. On New Year's day 1596 he produced a performance of "Titus Andronicus" and a masque written by his brother-in-law Sir Edward Wingfield at Burley. Harington's daughter Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford sold Burley to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1620 for £28,000. Buckingham produced Ben Jonson's masque "The Gypsies Metamorphosed" at Burley in 1621 to celebrate his marriage to Katherine Manners. Later in 1621 Buckingham requested Scottish fir tree seeds and saplings for the park from the Earl of Mar, and 1624 the Earl of Northumberland sent 1,000 walnut trees.