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The east window of the chapel at Hampton Court Palace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Peter Curnow
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Extract

The appearance in 1982 of volume iv part II, marks the completion of that epic task, The History of the King’s Works, which would surely never have been achieved but for the devoted editorship and authorship of Howard Colvin over a period of twenty-five years. In this last volume the section dealing with Hampton Court opens by stating that ‘although more survives of Hampton Court than any other Tudor palace, the architectural history of that great complex of buildings . . . presents many problems that neither archaeological investigation nor documentary research can fully resolve’.

Type
Section 1: Royal Works and The Office of Works
Information
Architectural History , Volume 27: Design and Practice in British Architecture , 1984 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1984

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References

Notes

1 Two other examples of this treatment have so far been uncovered at Hampton Court, both in the context of Wolsey’s building.

2 For several points discussed in this paper see Harvey, J. ‘The Building Works and Architects of Cardinal Wolsey Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 3rd Series, vm (1942), 50-59 Google Scholar, and Milne, j. G. and Harvey, j. ‘The Building ofCardinal College, Oxford’, Oxoniensia, vin/ix (1943-44), 137—1533 PRO, E 36/241 July-August 1531Google Scholar.

4 PRO, E 36/243 October-November 1535; E 36/239july 1536.

5 Harvey, J. H. English Mediaeval Architects (1954), p. 219.Google Scholar

6 In 1527/28 Johnson also undertook a tracery window for Balliol College (Oxoniensia vm/ix (1943-44), 146)- Humphrey Coke was the carpenter responsible for the roof of the hall at Christ Church. It is not possible to say whether he provided any indications of the design of the roof for the chapel at Hampton Court for Wolsey before the latter’s fall.

7 A recent suggestion as to the form of the chapel there is given in Colvin, Howard Unbuilt Oxford (1983), p. 6.Google Scholar

8 Demolished in the seventeenth century.

9 The interior face of the east wall bears the ghosting of a roofing line coinciding with the string at the base of the parapet. There can be little doubt that this represents the line of the principal rafters of Wolsey’s roof.

10 Colvin, H. HKW, iv, 135 and n.2.Google Scholar

11 It is interesting to note that the tie-beams holding the vault and which are of one construction with it show mortices for principal rafters on their upper sides which have never been used.

12 Law, Ernest The History of Hampton Court Palace, 11 (1888), 131.Google Scholar

13 It should be noted that a substantial part of the last period of glazing at King’s College was carried out between 1526 and 1531 by Galyon Hone. See Wayment, Hilary The Windows of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Oxford, 1972).Google Scholar

14 Early in 1984 a portion of the brick blocking of the window was removed and several fragments of window glass were found lodged behind the brickwork. Of these fragments, the most interesting consisted of pieces forming the larger part of a quarry bearing the leopards of England as part of the royal coat of arms (PI. 4). Other very small fragments consist of parts of foliage wreaths, and architectural designs. Miss Kerr has provided the following comments: ‘certainly the glass is sixteenth century, but has not been glazed long enough for external weathering or decay to get a grip. The lions are very interesting as they are yellow stain (exterior) on white base, painted, not flashed, with red enamel which has been abraded. They are of very high quality, with precise grozing and excellent control of firing points’. Fragments of comparable glass were excavated at Oatlands Palace. The discovery of these fragments provides welcome confirmation of the documentary evidence for the subject matter of the glazing.

15 A recent investigation of the blocking has proved inconclusive in that its depth thus far examined extends at least two feet into the wall and the existence of an opening rather than a recess cannot, at present, be ruled out. The question whether the feature was external only, or related somehow to the area behind the high altar must, therefore, remain unanswered for the present. It is possible that it was intended to house a sculptured relief, relics, or even a tomb.