Wilton Circle

The Wilton Circle were an influential group of 16th-century English poets, led by Mary (Sidney) Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. They were based at Wilton House, Wiltshire, which was run by the half-brother of Walter Raleigh.

Sidney turned Wilton into a "paradise for poets"; her circle included Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Sir John Davies, and Samuel Daniel. They are described as "the most important and influential literary circle in English history"