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Henry VIII and the building of Hampton Court: A reconstruction of the Tudor Palace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Simon Thurley
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Extract

When Henry VIII finally took full possession of Hampton Court in 1529 he inherited a house already much embellished by Thomas Wolsey. In 1515 Wolsey had taken a lease from the Order of St John of Jerusalem on the modest manor house of Hampton Court and during the next fifteen years he turned it into one of the largest if not the very largest house in the kingdom. Attached to Wolsey’s lease there is an inventory, and this, together with the results of recent excavation, have revealed much about the earliest house on the site. Wolsey’s additions to this house seem to have been undertaken in two distinct phases. The first group of additions (1515–25) included the vast base court, new kitchens and a remodelling of the main first-floor reception rooms. In a second phase (1526–29) another storey was added to the main range of reception rooms for the queen, a new range was built on the south side of the second court, and the chapel was begun. The chapel, it appears, was still under construction when the king began his first building campaign. Eventually it was to be finished with materials that Wolsey had set aside at Sonning in Berkshire, for the building of the chapel at Cardinal College, Oxford.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 31 , 1988 , pp. 1 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1998

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References

Notes

Introduction

1 This introduction represents a summary of a full discussion of Wolsey’s work at Hampton Court to appear in Cardinal Wolsey: Church, State and Art, ed., Gunn, S. and Lindley, P., forthcoming.Google Scholar

2 Miss Daphne Hart of HBMC has pioneered a brick typology survey of Wolsey’s work at Hampton Court and, in the absence of building accounts, it is on this that the phasing is based.

3 Calendar of State Papers: Venetian, ed. Brown, Rawdon (1864–), IV, no. 682.Google Scholar

4 Singer, S. W. ed., The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish Chiswick, 1825.Google Scholar

5 For the kitchens see Thurley, S.J., ‘The Sixteenth-Century Kitchens at Hampton Court’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1989.Google Scholar

Phase 1

1 Public Record Office (henceforth referred to as PRO) E36/239, p. 38.

2 PRO E36/239, p. 488.

3 PRO E36/241, p. 344.

4 PRO E36/239, p. 124.

5 PRO E36/237, p. 384.

6 PRO E36/237, p. 466.

7 Letters and Papers, Foriegn and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII 1509–47, ed. Brewer, , Gairdener, and Brodie, (21 vols) 1862–1910 (henceforward referred to as L & P), IV, no. 4408.Google Scholar

8 PRO E36/239, p. 106.

9 PRO E36/245, p. 26.

10 At Whitehall for example see PRO E36/2S3, p. 580 or at a smaller house, Hanworth, PRO E36/241, p. 484.

11 St John Hope, W. H., Windsor Castle, 11, p. 254, n. 87.Google Scholar

12 PRO E36/239, p. 83.

13 PRO E36/237.

14 The History of the King’s Works, IV, 1485–1660, part II, ed. M. Colvin, H. (henceforward refered to as HKW), p. 78.Google Scholar

15 Eames, P., Mediaeval Furniture (London 1977), p. 2.Google Scholar

16 PRO E36/237, p. 412.

17 PRO E36/241, p. 443.

18 PRO E36/239, p. 106 etc.

19 An ‘empcion of paynters stuff spent by Anthony Tote in the Kynges closett’ included ‘marking stones’ to draw on the walls with. E36/241, p. 637.

20 PRO E36/241, p. 106.

21 PRO E36/242, p. 305.

22 PRO E36/241, p. 145.

23 PRO E36/242, p. 305.

24 PRO E36/242, p. 304.

25 A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household (Society of Antiquaries of London) 1790 (henceforward referred to as HO), pp. 70–72.

26 HKW, p. 27. For Ewelme Bodliean Library (henceforward referred to as Bod. Lib.) Rawl. MS 777 fol. 134.

27 Visible on Plan D. For measured drawing before destruction in the 1960s see HBMC No. 125a/886.

28 PRO E36/239, p. 124.

29 PRO E36/239, p. 140.

30 PRO Work 5/2 May 1661, shows the replacement of this. An account in 1599 shows the repair of the pipe from here to the ‘hothouse’ PRO E351/3235.

31 PRO E36/241,p. 375.

32 PRO E36/237, p. 373.

33 PRO E36/237, p.443.

34 PRO E36/237, p. 468.

35 Including Eltham, HKW. p. 78, n. 4, Greenwich, D. 101, Oatlands, p. 213 and Richmond p. 228.

36 Bodliean Library MS Eng. Hist. b192/1 fol. 2.

37 PRO E36/239, p. 224.

38 PRO E36/237, p. 455.

39 PRO E36/237, p.454.

40 PRO E36/237, p. 452.

41 PRO E36/237, p. 488.

42 Nicholas, N. H., The Privy Purse expenses of Henry VIII (London, 1827), p. 8.Google Scholar

43 PRO E36/237, p.452.

44 British Library (henceforward referred to as BL) Harl. MS 1419 fols 252–54.

45 Ibid., fol. 206.

46 PRO E36/244, p. 274.

47 PRO E36/238, p. 420.

48 PRO E36/239, p. 34.

49 For example; middle gallery, E36/241 p. 263, Lower, E36/241 p. 249 upper, E36/237, p. 467.

50 PRO E36/241, p. 278.

51 PRO E36/241, p. 379.

52 PRO E36/241, p. 218.

53 BL Harl. MS 1419 fol. 246.

54 PRO E36/241, p. 36.

55 PRO E36/248, p. 248.

56 PRO E36/237, p. 467.

57 PRO E36/237, p.467.

58 PRO E36/245, p. 187.

59 Scarisbrick, J. J., Henry VIII (London, 1971), p. 204.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., p. 207.

61 D. Starkey, ‘The Lords of the Council. Aristocracy, Ideology and the formation of the Tudor Privy Council’. Paper delivered to the American Historical Association, December 1986.

62 See Appendix.

63 BMAdd. M S 6113 fol. 81v.

64 PRO E36/237, p. 298.

65 PRO E36/239, p. 40 for example.

66 PROE36/237, p. 384.

67 See Thurley, S.J., ‘The Sixteenth-Century Kitchens at Hampton Court’, JBAA, 1989.Google Scholar

Phase 2

1 PRO E36/241, p. 45.

2 PRO E36/241, p. 127.

3 PRO E36/241, p. 127.

4 See Bod. Lib. MS Eng. Hist. b192/1 fol. 2 for instance.

5 PRO E36/241, p. 476.

6 PRO E36/241, p. 475.

7 PRO E36/241, p. 537.

8 PRO E36/241, p.483.

9 PRO E36/241, p. 521.

10 PRO E36/241, p. 486.

11 PRO E36/241, p. 544.

12 PRO E36/241, p. 658.

13 PRO E36/241, p. 645.

14 PRO E36/241, p. 631.

15 PRO E36/237, p. 145.

16 PRO E36/242, pp. 53–54.

17 PRO E36/243, p. 202.

18 PRO Work 19/583.

19 HO p. 160.

20 Ibid, p. 171.

21 Ibid, p. 172.

22 BL Add. MS 6113 fol. 81V.

23 Jordan, W. K., The Chronicle of King Edward VI (New York, 1966), p. 72 Google Scholar, see also pp. 91–92.

24 HKWp. 146.

25 PRO E36/243, p. 607.

26 See Green, H. J. M. and Thurley, S. J., ‘Whitehall Palace: The Treasury Site Excavations. Part I. The Excavations’ London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Journal, 1988.Google Scholar

27 J. H. Nichols op. cit., p. 180.

28 PRO E36/237, p. 62.

29 PRO E36/237, p. 148.

30 PRO E36/237, p. 172.

31 PRO E36/237, p. 169.

32 PRO E36/242, p. 99 etc.

33 PRO E36/237, p. 85.

34 PRO E36/242, p. 95 for example.

35 Development Plan 3. For a full, phased archaeological plan of this area see Thurley, S.J., The Palaces of Henry VIII (Courtauld Institute of Art PhD, London)Google Scholar, forthcoming.

36 N. H. Nicholas, 1827, op. cit., p. 283.

37 PRO E36/237, p. 86.

38 PRO E36/237, p. 272.

39 PRO E36/237, p. 298.

40 PRO E36/243, p. 41.

41 PRO E36/237, p. 268.

42 PRO E36/242, p. 23.

Phase 3a

1 PRO E36/239, p. 108.

2 Calendar of State papers: Spanish, ed. Bergenroth, , Gayngos, and Hume, (1862–), iv, pt ii, 1531–33, 154.Google Scholar

3 PRO E36/242, p. 23.

4 PRO E36/237, p. 245 also see p. 248

5 PRO E36/237, p. 370.

6 PRO E36/242, p. 110.

7 PRO E36/238, p. 32.

8 PRO E36/243, p. 41.

9 PRO E36/243, p. 41.

10 PRO E36/242, p. 144

11 PRO E36/242, p. 71.

12 PRO E36/243, p. 312

13 PRO E36/243, p. 478

14 PRO E36/242, p. 300

15 PRO E36/243, p. 479

16 PRO E36/243, p. 480

17 PRO E36/242, p. 240

18 PRO E36/243, p.425

19 PRO E36/243, p. 278

20 PRO E36/243, p.425

21 PRO E36/243, p.425

22 PRO E36/243, p.425

23 PRO E36/240, p. 588

24 PRO E36/242, p. 307

25 PRO E36/243, p. 279

26 HO, p. 173.

27 PRO E36/243, p.603

28 PRO E36/242, p. 116

29 PRO E36/242, p. 206

30 PRO E36/243, p. 62.

31 PRO E36/242, p. 210.

32 PRO E36/244, p. 101 for example.

33 PRO E36/243, p. 77.

34 PRO E36/243, p. 43.

35 When the 1669 lodgings ‘nexte paradise’ were built carpenters were employed ‘takyng downe the staires and stairecase’, for the new lodgings had a privy stair of their own. PRO Work 5/13.

36 PRO E36/243, p. 482.

37 PRO E36/343, p. 86.

38 PRO E36/242, p. 200.

39 PRO E36/242, p. 200.

40 PRO E36/243, p. 86.

41 PRO E36/243, p. 41.

42 PRO E36/243, p. 487.

43 PRO E36/242, p. 304.

44 PRO E36/237, p. 526.

Phase 3b

1 PRO E36/243, p. 83.

2 For example PRO E36/239, p. 28.

3 PRO E36/243,p. 168.

4 PRO E36/243, p. 373 and also E36/243, p. 420.

5 PRO E36/243, p. 368.

6 PRO E36/243, p. 327. For a fuller discussion of this see S.J. Thurley, ‘The Sixteenth-Century Kitchens at Hampton Court’, JBAA, 1989.

7 PRO E36/243,p. 328.

8 See Plans D and E.

9 BL Add. MS 6113 fol. 87.

10 PRO E36/243, p. 481.

11 PRO E36/242, p. 48.

12 PRO E36/242, p. 305.

13 PRO E36/242, p. 305.

14 PRO E36/242, p. 305.

15 ‘dore goyng owt of the kyngs withdrawyng chamber into hys dynyng chamber’ E36/242, p. 304. For the page’s chamber and closet see also E36/242 p. 305 and 305.

16 PRO E36/237, p.446.

17 PRO E36/243, p. 59.

18 PRO E36/243, p. 368.

19 PRO E36/244, p. 99.

20 PRO E36/243, p. 731.

21 Especially into the area initially inhabited by Princess Mary.

22 PRO E36/243, p. 471.

23 PRO E36/243, p.243.

24 Many references, for example PRO E36/244, p. 51.

25 PRO E36/243,p. 369.

26 PRO E36/242, p. 37.

27 PRO E36/243, p. 366.

28 PRO E36/244, p. 78.

29 PRO E351/3225.

30 PRO E36/244, p.40.

31 PRO E36/244, p. 79.

32 Red Ochre was the standard exterior paint. See for instance PRO E36/239, p. 223.

33 PRO E36/239,p.346.

34 PRO E36/239, p.281.

35 PRO E36/237, p. 522.

36 PRO E36/238, p. 524.

37 Drawing in Chats worth Collection. Information supplied by Mr John Newman.

38 PRO E36/234, p. 177.

39 PRO E36/243, p. 353.

40 Peers, C. R., ‘The Stone Bridge at Hampton Court’, Archaeologia, LXII (1910), p. 309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41 PRO E36/240, p. 559.

42 Law, E. introduced this idea in his History of Hampton Court, 3 vols, London 1888 Google Scholar. The History of the King’s Works claims there is structural evidence to show that the western part of the kitchen range is of a different build (HKW, IV, 139.) This must have been a misunderstanding as neither its source (Miss Daphne Hart of HBMC) nor I have been able to find any such evidence. The accounts, as demonstrated in S.J. Thurley, ‘The Sixteenth-Century Kitchens at Hampton Court’, JBAA, 1989, indicate a single campaign.

43 PRO E36/240, p. 542.

44 PRO E36/240, p. 542a.

45 PRO E36/239, p. 116.

46 Loades, D. The Tudor Court (London, 1986), p. 88.Google Scholar

47 Ibid.

48 PRO Work 34/32.

49 PRO E36/239 and E36/243, p. 708.

50 See HKW, pp. 134-35; G. D. Heath, The Chapel Royal at Hampton Court (Borough of Twickenham Local History Society Paper Number 42) (Twickenham, 1983); Curnow, P., ‘The East Window of the Chapel at Hampton Court Palace’, Architectural History, 27 (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also see forthcoming publications, H. Wayment in Master Drawings, on Wolsey’s stained glass in the chapel and S.J. Thurley on Wolsey’s chapel in Cardinal Wolsey: Church, State and Art (Cambridge, forthcoming).

51 PRO E36/243, p. 641 for example.

52 PRO E36/242, p. 201.

53 PRO E36/243, p. 42.

54 PRO E36/245, p. 140.

55 PRO E36/239, p. 619.

56 PRO E36/239, p. 512.

57 L&P, x, no. 876. ‘trial of Anne Boleyn and Lord Rochford. The procured William Bryerton late of Westminster … 8 December 25 HVIII at Hampton Court.’ Mr Gerald Heath kindly provided me with this reference.

58 PRO E36/237, pp. 255–76.

59 PRO E36/237, p.367.

60 PRO E36/242, p. 172.

Phase 4

1 PRO E36/244, p. 255.

2 PRO E36/244, p. 280.

3 Batchelor, D., ‘Excavations At Hampton Court Palace’ Post-Medieval Archaeology, XI (1977), 40 and Fig. 4.Google Scholar

4 PRO E36/244, p. 200.

5 PRO E36/24S, p. 71.

6 PRO E36/244, p. 412.

7 See Appendix.

8 PRO E36/244, p. 278.

9 As revealed by Miss Daphne Hart of HBMC.

10 PRO E36/244, p. 241.

11 PRO E36/244, p. 179.

12 PRO E36/244, p. 402.

13 E36/245, p. 83. A suitably large fireplace for this can be seen on plan C in the north-east corner beneath prince’s lodging.

14 PRO E36/245, p. 191.

15 PRO E36/245, p. 192.

16 PRO E36/245, p. 191.

17 PRO E36/244, p. 417.

18 The bed chamber may have been the public room and his rocking chamber the privy room in the nursery.

19 PRO E36/245, pp. 136-37.

20 PRO E36/245, pp. 113, 137 and 234.

21 PRO E36/245, p. 233.

22 L & P, XIII, pt 1, no. 1280.

23 Ibid., nos 323 and 338.

24 Nichols, J. G., ‘Literary Remains of King Edward VI’, Roxburghe Club, 1 (1857), xxvi–xxvii.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., p. xxix.

26 For instance May/June PRO E36/239, pp. 572–640.

27 PRO E36/244, p. 140.

28 PRO E36/239, p. 627.

29 PRO E36/245, p. 96.

30 PRO E36/244, p. 186.

31 PRO E36/245, p. 221.

32 PRO E36/245, pp. 135 and 136.

33 PRO E36/244, p. 181.

34 PRO E36/245, p. 136.

35 PRO E36/245, p. 231.

36 PRO E36/245, p. 98.

37 PRO E36/245, p. 89.

38 PRO E36/245, p. 235.

39 PRO E36/245, p. 234.

40 PRO E36/245, p. 231.

41 PRO E36/245, p. 196.

42 PRO E36/245, p. 183.

43 PRO E36/245, p. 197.

44 PRO E36/239, p. 509.

45 PRO E36/244, p. 138.

46 PRO E36/245, p. 138.

47 PRO E36/245, p. 132.

48 PRO E36/245, p. 135.

49 PRO E36/245, p. 84.

50 PRO E36/245, p. 163.

51 PRO E36/243, p. 604.

52 PRO E36/245, p. 231.

53 PRO E351/3235.

54 PRO E36/245, p. 187.

55 PRO E36/244, p. 412.

56 PRO E36/244, p.415.

57 PRO E36/245, p. 131.

58 PRO E36/245, p. 82.

59 BLAdd. MS6113, fol. 81v.

60 PRO E36/244, p. 139.

61 PRO E36/245, p. 182.

62 PRO E36/245, p. 82.

63 PRO E36/243, p. 215.

64 PRO E36/243,p. 132.

65 PRO E36/245, p. 73.

66 HKW p. 141.

67 Excavated in 1982 by Mr G. Parnell. It was found to post-date the chapel (as the exterior paintwork was preserved). It predated 1547 as Henrician brick infill was found. The floor was tiled.

68 PRO E36/245, p. 186.

69 PRO E36/235, p. 596.

70 PRO E36/235, p. 608–09.

71 PRO E36/237, p. 299.

72 An undated plan in the possession of HBMC shows that an excavation in the present fountain court revealed a brick raft 1’ 6” thick and ‘probably of Tudor origin’. This can be identified with the square feature shown on Talman’s plan in this position (see Fig. 1). The thickness of the footings indicate that it was probably a timber structure. A viewing platform still exists in the fish court.

73 PRO E36/245, p. 195.

74 PRO E36/237, p. 601.

75 PRO E36/237, p. 619.

76 For example E351/3219 and E351/3230.

77 For example painting account in E351/3230, also E351/3234.

78 PRO Work 5/42.

79 PRO E36/243, p. 47 for instance.

80 PRO Work 5/4. Also see Thurley, S., Courtauld Institute of Art unpublished M.A. Report (London, 1986), p. 57.Google Scholar

81 PRO £36/243, pp. 278–83.

82 BL Harl. MS 1419, fol. 249 etc.

83 For the position of the privy kitchen see E36/243, p. 603.

84 PRO E36/243, p. 604.

Phase 5

1 L & P, XIV, pt 1, no. 499. Mr G. D. Heath brought this to my notice.

2 PRO E36/242, pp. 185–315.

3 It is likely that further research will complete this story.

4 L & P, XIV, pt 1, no. 904 (20).

5 HKW, III, 11–12.

6 PRO SP1/242.

7 PRO E351/3199.

8 HKW p. 7.

9 HKW p. 172.

10 BL Royal MS Appx. 89. fol. 67.

11 L & P, XXI, pt 2, p. 433.

12 See S. J. Thurley, ‘The Sixteenth-Century Kitchens at Hampton Court’ fora full discussion of this.

13 Jordan, W. K., The Chronicle of Edward VI (New York, 1966), p. 17.Google Scholar

14 L & P, XVII, no. 1212

15 BL. Add. MS 6113, fol. 114.

16 PRO E351/3204.

17 See: ‘The Visit of the Duke of Stettin-Pomerania in 1602’ TRHS (1892) and C. Williams, Thomas Platters Travels In England 1599 (1937).

18 BLHarl. MS 1419a.

19 See Anthony Watson’s description in J. Dent, The Quest for Nonsuch (1962), p. 103.

20 See HKW, vol. 1.