It is thought that William Cecil's father's house occupied the north range. William Cecil's initial design favoured the west range as a principal entrance but by 1587, when this range was completed, it seems that this side of the house was a more practical entrance. Before the demolition of the north-west wing in 1765, this must have been a damp and shadowed courtyard, north facing and cold. With the admission of sunlight, the marble statue of the young Bacchus was brought out from an interior hall by the 9th Earl, to oversee the newly visible parkland with its young avenues of lime trees.