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[[File:Belton House South Elevation.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Belton House]] is an English country house in [[Lincolnshire]] ]]
An '''English country house''' is a large house or [[mansion]] in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|town house]]. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the [[landed gentry]] who
With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until the [[Great Depression of British Agriculture|agricultural depressions of the 1870s]], the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swansong of the traditional English country house lifestyle. Increased taxation and the effects of World War I led to the [[Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain|demolition of hundreds of houses]]; those that remained had to adapt to survive.
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