| Hampton Court Palace | |
|---|---|
 Hampton Court Palace, west front, Richmond upon Thames | |
  Location in London Borough of Richmond upon Thames | |
| General information | |
| Location | Hampton Court, Greater London, England |
| Coordinates | 51°24′12″N0°20′15″W / 51.40333°N 0.33750°W /51.40333; -0.33750 |
| Current tenants | Historic Royal Palaces |
| Owner | Charles III in right ofthe Crown[1] |
| Website | |
www | |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Hampton Court Palace |
| Designated | 2 September 1952; 73 years ago (1952-09-02) |
| Reference no. | 1193127 |
Hampton Court Palace is aGrade I listed[2] royal palace in theLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles (19 kilometres) southwest and upstream ofcentral London on theRiver Thames.
The building of the palace began in 1514 for CardinalThomas Wolsey,Archbishop of York and the chief minister ofHenry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the king to try to save his own life, which he knew was now in grave danger due to Henry VIII's deepening frustration and anger. The palace became one of Henry's most favoured residences; soon after acquiring it, he enlarged it to accommodate his sizeable retinue ofcourtiers.
In the early 1690s,William III's massive rebuilding and expansion work, which was intended to rival thePalace of Versailles, destroyed much of the Tudor palace.[3] His work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domesticTudor andBaroque. While the palace's styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a symmetrical, if vague, balancing of successive low wings.[4]George II was the last monarch to reside in the palace.
The palace is a major tourist attraction open to the public. The structure and grounds are cared for by an independent charity,Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown.[5] The palace displays many works of art from theRoyal Collection. Apart from the palace itself and its gardens, other points of interest for visitors include thecelebrated maze, the historicroyal tennis court (see below), and a hugegrape vine, the world's largest as of 2005[update]. Thepalace's Home Park is the site of the annualHampton Court Palace Festival andHampton Court Garden Festival.
What would become Hampton Court Palace was originally a property of theOrder of St John of Jerusalem.[4] It was leased first to John Wode in the mid-15th century, and then to the statesman SirGiles Daubeney in 1494.[6] Daubeney expanded the previous structures, and built the Great Kitchens that still survive today[7] (although much altered). After Daubeney's death in 1508, his 14 year-old heir,Henry Daubeney, had to wait until 1514 to inherit his father's possessions. A month later, he relinquished his lease, and the Order of St John of Jerusalem re-leased Hampton Court toThomas Wolsey.[8]
Thomas Wolsey,Archbishop of York, chief minister to and a favourite of Henry VIII, took over the site of Hampton Court Palace in 1514.[9] Over the following seven years, Wolsey spent lavishly (200,000crowns) to build the finest palace in England at Hampton Court.[10] Today, little of Wolsey's building work remains unchanged. The first courtyard, the Base Court,[11] (B on plan), was his creation, as was the second, inner gatehouse (C) which leads to the Clock Court (D) (Wolsey's seal remains visible over the entrance arch of the clock tower[12]) which contained his private rooms (O on plan).[9] The Base Court contained forty-four lodgings reserved for guests, while the second court (today, Clock Court) contained the very best rooms – thestate apartments – reserved for the king and his family.[13] Henry VIII stayed in the state apartments as Wolsey's guest immediately after their completion in 1525.
In building his palace, Wolsey was attempting to create aRenaissance cardinal's palace of a rectilinear symmetrical plan with grand apartments on a raisedpiano nobile, all rendered with classical detailing. The historianJonathan Foyle has suggested[14] that it is likely that Wolsey had been inspired byPaolo Cortese'sDe Cardinalatu, a manual for cardinals that included advice on palatial architecture, published in 1510. The architectural historian SirJohn Summerson asserts that the palace shows "the essence of Wolsey – the plain English churchman who nevertheless made his sovereign the arbiter of Europe and who built and furnished Hampton Court to show foreign embassies that Henry VIII's chief minister knew how to live as graciously as any cardinal in Rome."[15] Whatever the concepts were, the architecture is an excellent and rare example of a thirty-year era when English architecture was in a harmonious transition from domestic Tudor, strongly influenced byperpendicular Gothic, to the Italian Renaissance classical style. Perpendicular Gothic owed nothing historically to the Renaissance style, yet harmonised well with it.[16] This blending of styles was realised by a small group of Italian craftsmen working at the English court in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century. They specialised in the adding of Renaissance ornament to otherwise straightforward Tudor buildings.[16] It was one of these,Giovanni da Maiano, who was responsible for the set of eightrelief busts of Roman emperors which were set in the Tudor brickwork.[17]
Henry VIII and his courtiers visited Wolsey at Hampton Court inmasque costume in January 1527, disguised as shepherds to playmumchance and dance.[18] Wolsey was only to enjoy his palace for a few years.[15] In 1529, knowing that his enemies and the King were engineering his downfall, he passed the palace to the King as a gift. Wolsey died in 1530.[15]
Within six months of coming into ownership, the King began his own rebuilding and expansion.[13] Henry VIII's court consisted of over one thousand people. While the King owned over sixty houses and palaces, few of these were large enough to hold the assembled court, and thus one of the first of the King's building works (in order to transform Hampton Court to a principal residence) was to build the vast kitchens. These were quadrupled in size in 1529, enabling the King to providebouche of court (free food and drink) for his entire court.[19][20] The architecture of King Henry's new palace followed the design precedent set by Wolsey: perpendicular Gothic-inspired Tudor with restrained Renaissance ornament. This hybrid architecture was to remain almost unchanged for nearly a century, untilInigo Jones introduced strong classical influences from Italy to the London palaces of the first Stuart kings.
Between 1532 and 1535 Henry added the Great Hall (the last medievalgreat hall built for the English monarchy) and theRoyal Tennis Court.[21] The Great Hall has a carvedhammerbeam roof. During Tudor times, this was the most important room of the palace: here, the King would dine in state seated at a table upon a raiseddais.[22] The hall took five years to complete; so impatient was the King for completion that the masons were compelled to work throughout the night by candlelight.[10]
The gatehouse to the second, inner court was adorned in 1540 with theHampton Court astronomical clock, an early example of a pre-Copernicanastronomical clock. Still functioning, the clock shows the time of day, the phases of the moon, the month, the quarter of the year, the date, the sun and star sign, andhigh water atLondon Bridge.[23] This last item was of great importance to those visiting this Thames-side palace from London, as the preferred method of transport at the time was by barge, and at low water London Bridge created dangerous rapids. This gatehouse is also known today asAnne Boleyn's gate, after Henry's second wife. Work was still under way on Anne Boleyn's apartments above the gate when Boleyn was beheaded.[24]
During the Tudor period, the palace was the scene of many historic events. In 1537, the King's much desired male heir, the futureEdward VI, was born at the palace, and the child's mother,Jane Seymour, died there two weeks later.[25] Four years afterwards, whilst attendingMass in the palace's chapel, the King was informed of the adultery of his fifth wife,Catherine Howard. She was then confined to her room for a few days before being sent toSyon House and then on to theTower of London. Legend claims she briefly escaped her guards and ran through the Haunted Gallery to beg Henry for her life but she was recaptured.[26]
King Henry died in January 1547 and was succeeded by his son Edward VI, and then by both his daughters in turn. It was to Hampton Court that QueenMary I (Henry's elder daughter) retreated with KingPhilip to spend her honeymoon, after their wedding atWinchester.[10] Mary chose Hampton Court as the place for the birth of her first child, which turned out to be the first of twophantom pregnancies. Mary had initially wanted to give birth atWindsor Castle as it was a more secure location, and she was still fearful of rebellion. But Hampton Court was considerably larger and could accommodate the entire court and more besides. Mary stayed at the palace awaiting the birth of the "child" for over five months, and only left because of the uninhabitable state of the palace due to the court being kept in the one location for so long. Her court departed for the much smallerOatlands Palace. Mary was succeeded by her half-sister,Elizabeth I, and it was Elizabeth who had the eastern (privy) kitchen built; today, this is the palace's public tea room.[25]
On the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the Tudor period came to an end. The Queen was succeeded by her first cousin-once-removed,James I of theHouse of Stuart, an event known as theUnion of the Crowns.[27]
Two entertainments for the Stuart court were staged in the Great Hall in January 1604,The Masque of Indian and China Knights andThe Vision of the Twelve Goddesses.[28] On 6 January, Scottish courtiers performed asword dance forAnne of Denmark. Their dance was compared to a Spanishmatachin.[29] Later in 1604, the palace was the site of King James' meeting with representatives of the EnglishPuritans, known as theHampton Court Conference; while an agreement with the Puritans was not reached, the meeting led to James's commissioning of theKing James Version of theBible.[30]
King James was succeeded in 1625 by his son, the ill-fatedCharles I. Hampton Court was to become both his palace and his prison.[30] It was also the setting for his honeymoon with his fifteen-year-old bride,Henrietta Maria in 1625.[10] Following King Charles' execution in 1649, the palace became the property of theCommonwealth presided over byOliver Cromwell. Unlike some other former royal properties, the palace escaped relatively unscathed. While the government auctioned much of the contents, the building was ignored.[31]
_leaving_Hampton_Court_-_RCIN_402006_-_Royal_Collection.jpg)
After theRestoration, KingCharles II and his successorJames II visited Hampton Court but largely preferred to reside elsewhere. By current French court standards, Hampton Court now appeared old-fashioned. It was in 1689, shortly afterLouis XIV's court had moved permanently toVersailles, that the palace's antiquated state was addressed. England had joint monarchs,William III andMary II. Within months of their accession, they embarked on a massive rebuilding project at Hampton Court. The intention was to demolish the Tudor palace a section at a time while replacing it with a huge modern palace in the Baroque style retaining only Henry VIII's Great Hall.[32]
The country's most eminent architect, SirChristopher Wren, was called upon to draw the plans, while the master of works was to beWilliam Talman. The plan was for a vast palace constructed around two courtyards at right angles to each other. Wren's design for a domed palace bore resemblances to the work ofJules Hardouin-Mansart andLouis Le Vau, both architects employed by Louis XIV at Versailles.[32] It has been suggested, though, that the plans were abandoned because the resemblance to Versailles was too subtle and not strong enough; at this time, it was impossible for any sovereign to visualise a palace that did not emulate Versailles' repetitive Baroque form.[33] However, the resemblances are there: while the façades are not so long as those of Versailles, they have similar, seemingly unstoppable repetitive rhythms beneath a long flat skyline. The monotony is even repeated as the façade turns the corner from the east to the south fronts. However, Hampton Court, unlike Versailles, is given an extra dimension by the contrast between the pink brick and the palePortland stone quoins, frames and banding.[34] Further diversion is added by the circular and decorated windows of the second-floor mezzanine. This theme is repeated in the inner Fountain Court, but the rhythm is faster and the windows, unpedimented on the outer façades, are given pointed pediments in the courtyard; this has led the courtyard to be described as "Startling, as of simultaneous exposure to a great many eyes with raised eyebrows."[35]
During this work, half the Tudor palace was replaced and Henry VIII's staterooms and private apartments were both lost; the new wings around the Fountain Court contained new state apartments and private rooms, one set for the King and one for the Queen. Each suite of state rooms was accessed by a state staircase. The royal suites were of completely equal value in order to reflect William and Mary's unique status as joint sovereigns.[36] The King's Apartments face south over the Privy Garden, the Queen's east over the Fountain Garden. The suites are linked by a gallery running the length of the east façade, another reference to Versailles, where the King and Queen's apartments are linked by theHall of Mirrors. However, at Hampton Court, the linking gallery is of more modest proportions and decoration. The King's staircase was decorated withfrescos byAntonio Verrio and delicate ironwork byJean Tijou.[37] Other artists commissioned to decorate the rooms includedGrinling Gibbons, SirJames Thornhill andJacques Rousseau; furnishings were designed byDaniel Marot.[38]
After the death of Queen Mary, King William lost interest in the renovations, and work ceased. However, it was inHampton Court Park in 1702 that he fell from his horse, later dying from his injuries atKensington Palace. He was succeeded by his sister-in-law QueenAnne who continued the decoration and completion of the state apartments. On Queen Anne's death in 1714 theHouse of Stuart's rule came to an end.
Queen Anne's successor wasGeorge I; he and his sonGeorge II were the last monarchs to reside at Hampton Court.[3] Under George I six rooms were completed in 1717 to the design ofJohn Vanbrugh.[39] Under George II and his wife,Caroline of Ansbach, further refurbishment took place, with the architectWilliam Kent employed to design new furnishings and décor including the Queen's Staircase, (1733)[40] and the Cumberland Suite (1737) for theDuke of Cumberland.[40] Today, the Queen's Private Apartments are open to the public.
Since the reign of King George II, no monarch has resided at Hampton Court. In fact,George III, from the moment of his accession, never set foot in the palace: he associated the state apartments with a humiliating scene when his grandfather, George II, had once struck him following an innocent remark. He did however have the Great Vine planted there in 1763 and had the top two storeys of the Great Gatehouse removed in 1773.[36]
From the 1760s, the palace was used to housegrace and favour residents. Many of the palace rooms were adapted to be rent-free apartments, with vacant ones allocated by theLord Chamberlain to applicants to reward past services rendered to the Crown. From 1862 to his death in 1867, the scientist and pioneer of electricityMichael Faraday lived here. From the 1960s the number of new residents declined, with the last admitted in the 1980s.[41] However existing residents could continue to live there. In 2005 three remained,[42] with none by 2017.
In 1796, the Great Hall was restored and in 1838, during the reign ofQueen Victoria, the restoration was completed and the palace opened to the public. The heavy-handed restoration plan at this time reduced the Great Gatehouse (A), the palace's principal entrance, by two storeys and removed the leadcupolas adorning its four towers.[43] Once opened, the palace soon became a major tourist attraction and, by 1881, over ten million visits had been recorded.[44] Visitors arrived both by boat from London and viaHampton Court railway station, opened in February 1849.[45]
On 2 September 1952, the palace was given statutory protection by beingGrade I listed.[46] Other buildings and structures within the grounds are separately Grade I listed, including the early 16th-century tilt yard tower (the only surviving example of the five original towers);[47]Christopher Wren's Lion gate built for Anne and George I;[48] and the Tudor and 17th-century perimeter walls.[49]
In 1986, the palace was damaged by a major fire, which spread to the King's Apartments. The fire claimed the life of Lady Daphne Gale, widow of General SirRichard Gale, who resided in a grace and favour apartment. She was in the habit of taking a lighted candle to her bedroom at night, which is thought to have started the fire. The Hampton Court fire led to a new programme of restoration work which was completed in 1990.[50] TheRoyal School of Needlework moved to premises within the palace from Princes Gate inKensington 1987, and the palace also houses the headquarters ofHistoric Royal Palaces, acharitable foundation.
The location was used for a performance ofThe Six Wives of Henry VIII by rock keyboardistRick Wakeman in 2009.
The palace was the venue for theRoad Cycling Time Trial of the2012 Summer Olympics and temporary structures for the event, including a set of thrones for time trialists in the medal positions, were installed in the grounds.[51]
In 2015, Hampton Court celebrated the 500th anniversary of the groundbreaking of construction of the palace.[52][53] The celebrations included daily dramatised historical scenes.[54] The palace's construction began on 12 February 1515.[55]
On 9 February the following year,Vincent Nichols, the Catholicarchbishop of Westminster, celebratedvespers in the Chapel Royal. This was the first Catholic service held at the palace for 450 years, and the first since theElizabethan Religious Settlement establishedProtestantism as the national denomination.[56]
The palace houses many works of art and furnishings from theRoyal Collection, mainly dating from the two principal periods of the palace's construction, the early Tudor (Renaissance) and the late Stuart to the early Georgian period. In September 2015, the Royal Collection recorded 542 works (only those with images) as being located at Hampton Court, mostly paintings and furniture, but also ceramics and sculpture. The full current list can be obtained from their website.[57] The single most important work isAndrea Mantegna'sTriumphs of Caesar housed in the Lower Orangery. The palace once housed theRaphael Cartoons, now kept at theVictoria and Albert Museum. Their former home, the Cartoon Gallery on the south side of the Fountain Court, was designed by Christopher Wren; copies painted in the 1690s by a minor artist,Henry Cooke, are now displayed in their place. Also on display are important collections of ceramics, including numerous pieces of blue and white porcelain collected byQueen Mary II, both Chinese imports andDelftware.
Much of the original furniture dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, including tables byJean Pelletier, "India back" walnut chairs by Thomas Roberts and clocks and a barometer byThomas Tompion. Severalstate beds are still in their original positions, as is the Throne Canopy in the King's Privy Chamber. This room contains a crystal chandelier ofc. 1700, possibly the first such in the country.[58]
The King's Guard Chamber contains a large quantity of arms: muskets, pistols, swords, daggers,powder horns and pieces of armour arranged on the walls in decorative patterns. Bills exist for payment to a John Harris, dated 1699, for an arrangement believed to be that still seen today.[citation needed]
In addition, Hampton Court holds the majority of theRoyal Ceremonial Dress Collection, with a smaller amount being held atKensington Palace, where it is displayed.[59] The collection of over 10,000 items includes clothing, sketches, letters, prints, photographs, diaries and scrapbooks.[59] The dress collection hasdesignated status fromArts Council England.[59]
The timber and plaster ceiling of thechapel is considered the "most important and magnificent in Britain",[26] but is all that remains of the Tudor decoration, after redecoration supervised by Sir Christopher Wren. The altar is framed by a massive but plain oakreredos with garlands carved byGrinling Gibbons during the reign ofQueen Anne.[26] Opposite the altar, at first-floor level, is the royal pew where the royal family would attend services apart from the general congregation seated below.
The clergy, musicians and other ecclesiastical officers employed by the monarch at Hampton Court, as in other English royal premises, are known collectively as theChapel Royal; properly used the term does not refer to a building.
The grounds as they appear today were laid out in grand style in the late 17th century. There are no authentic remains of Henry VIII's gardens, merely a smallknot garden, planted in 1924, which hints at the gardens' 16th-century appearance.[60] Today, the dominating feature of the grounds is the great landscaping scheme constructed for Sir Christopher Wren's intended new palace. From a water-bounded semicircularparterre, the length of the east front, threeavenues radiate in acrow's foot pattern. The central avenue, containing not a walk or a drive, but the great canal known as the Long Water, was excavated during the reign of Charles II, in 1662. The design, radical at the time, is another immediately recognizable influence fromVersailles and was indeed laid out by pupils ofAndré Le Nôtre, Louis XIV's landscape gardener.[34]
On the south side of the palace is the Privy Garden bounded by semi-circular wrought iron gates byJean Tijou.[61] This garden, originally William III's private garden, was replanted in 1992 in period style with manicuredhollies andyews along a geometric system of paths.[60]
On a raised site overlooking the Thames is a small pavilion, the Banqueting House. This was builtc. 1700, for informal meals and entertainments in the gardens rather than for the larger state dinners which would have taken place inside the palace itself. A nearby conservatory houses the "Great Vine", planted in 1769; by 1968 it had a trunk 81 inches (2,100 mm) thick and has a length of 100 feet (30 m).[34] It still produces an annual crop of grapes.[62]
The palace included apartments for the use of favoured royal friends. One such apartment is described as being in "The Pavilion and situated on the Home Park" of Hampton Court Palace. This privilege was first extended about 1817 byPrince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, to his friend, Lieutenant General James Moore, and his new bride, Cecilia Watson.George IV continued this arrangement following the death of Prince Edward on 23 January 1820. Queen Victoria continued the arrangement for the widow of General Moore, following his death on 24 April 1838. This particular apartment was used for 21 years or more and spanned three different sponsors.[63]
A well-known curiosity of the palace's grounds isHampton Court Maze; planted in the 1690s byGeorge London andHenry Wise for William III.[62] It was originally planted withhornbeam; it has been repaired latterly using many different types of hedge. There is a 3D simulation of the maze, see the external links section.
Inspired by narrow views of a Tudor garden that can be seen through doorways in a painting,The Family of Henry VIII, hanging in the palace's Haunted Gallery, a new garden in the style of Henry VIII's 16th-century Privy Gardens, has been designed to celebrate the anniversary of that King's accession to the throne. Sited on the former Chapel Court Garden, it has been planted with flowers and herbs from the 16th century and is completed by gilded heraldic beasts and bold green and white painted fences. The garden's architect was Todd Longstaffe-Gowan.[64][65]
The formal gardens and park areGrade I listed on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[66]
.jpg)
There are ten statues of heraldic animals, called the King's Beasts, that stand on the bridge over the moat leading to the great gatehouse. Unlikethe Queen's Beasts inKew Gardens, these statues represent the ancestry of King Henry VIII and his third wifeJane Seymour. The animals are: thelion ofEngland, the Seymour lion, the royaldragon, the black bull ofClarence, theyale ofBeaufort, the white lion ofMortimer, theWhite Greyhound of Richmond, theTudor dragon, the Seymourpanther, and the Seymourunicorn. The set of Queen's Beasts at thecoronation of Queen Elizabeth II replaced the three Seymour items and one of the dragons by the gryphon ofEdward III, the horse ofHanover, the falcon of thePlantagenets, and the unicorn of Scotland.[67]
In 2009 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the accession to the throne of King Henry VIII, a new "Tudor Garden" was created in Chapel Court, Hampton Court, designed by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan.[68] To decorate the garden eight small wooden King's Beasts were carved and painted in bright colours,[68] each sitting atop a 6-foot-high painted wooden column. The heraldic beasts, carved byBen Harms and Ray Gonzalez of G&H Studios, include the golden lion of England, the white greyhound of Richmond, the red dragon of Wales, and the white hart ofRichard II, all carved from English oak. The historically correct colours were researched by Patrick Baty, paint/colour consultant at Hampton Court.[69] The beasts are of a different design to those on the bridge, based on period drawings in theCollege of Arms.
Inspired by Wren's work at Hampton Court, the AmericanVanderbilt family modelled their estate known asFlorham, inMadison, New Jersey, after it. Florham was commissioned byFlorence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly andHamilton McKown Twombly fromMcKim, Mead & White. It was built in 1893.[70]
The palace has been used as a location for filming film and television shows, includingThe Private Life of Henry VIII,Three Men In A Boat,A Man For All Seasons,Vanity Fair,Little Dorrit,John Adams (2008),The Young Victoria,Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,The Theory of Everything,Cinderella,Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!,The Favourite,Belgravia,The Great, andBridgerton.[71][72] Some scenes of the spin-off series,Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, were also filmed at the palace,[73] as was the King's staircase inThe Sandman andRenegade Nell.[74]
Lydia Sigourney's poemHampton Court records a visit to the palace with the bridal party following a wedding in March, 1841. It was published in herPleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands in 1842.[75]
Bouche of court.
Key filming locations include Master Carpenter's Court, Fountain Court, Clock Court, Base Court, the King's Stairs and the Gardens
| Olympic Park | .jpg) | |
|---|---|---|
| River Zone | ||
| Central Zone | ||
| Outside London | ||
| Football stadia | ||
| Districts | |
|---|---|
| Islands | |
| Railway stations | |
| Places of interest | |
| Places of worship | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
