ENGLAND: LONDON
AND THE COTSWOLDS
12 - 27 May 2016
HAMPTON COURT
The Palace
Monday, May 23. Andy
and Liz had taken today off from
work.. We
had a leisurely morning before
catching the tube at 10:15 to go
to Hampton Court Palace in
Richmond-upon-Thames. It was a
long ride and required a transfer
to a train at Waterloo Station. We
got to the Palace about 11:30.
This property was seized
from a religious order by Henry
VIII in 1514; then it was
acquired by Cardinal Woolsey. He
built a splendid palace that forms
the nucleus of the present one.
Henry reacquired the property in
1528 and enlarged it. This Tudor
Palace was built in the Gothic
style. More than a
century later, massive changes
were made by King William III (of
William and Mary). Most of the
Tudor Palace was demolished and
replaced by two new wings. This
baroque palace was designed by
Sir Christopher Wren.
Jane at entrance to
Palace |
Anne Boleyn's Gate
(Clock Tower)
|
Another view of
courtyard |
Shopping for a new
outfit? |
After
buying our tickets, we thought we
would see the different wings of
the Palace in chronological order.
Not being fully aware of the
palace's history, we
followed some "Young King Henry"
signs. It turned out that
was a permanent exhibit,
actually in the newer
palace. The exhibit covers
the life of young
Prince Henry, Katherine of
Aragon and Thomas Wolsey. It
was very interesting. Then,
since we were already there,
we went through the King
William wing.
Staircase to William's
apartments |
Ceiling above staircase |
William's Guard Chamber |
Privy Chamber
(ceremonial
room)
|
The Great Bedchamber
|
Gallery linking
William's apartments to
Mary's |
Since King William and Queen
Mary were co-rulers, they had
separate apartments, connected
by a long gallery. We went to
Mary's wing next.
Queen's drawing room |
Queen's bedchamber |
Queen's gallery |
Exiting the William and Mary
wings, we saw signs indicating
the direction to "Henry VIII."
That took us back through the
courtyard. As we passed through
there, we saw a line of costumed
docents, apparently coming back
from lunch. The signs led us to
the kitchen, the Great Hall, and
the Chapel, apparently about all
that remains from Henry's Tudor
palace. The Great Hall, where
Henry had dined regularly, was
the most impressive by far, 40 x
108 feet, lined with Belgian
tapestries and featuring stained
glass windows.
Parade of docents
through the courtyard |
Henry VIII |
The Great
Hall much as
Henry VIII saw it |
The kitchen rooms were below
the Hall. In Henry's time the
kitchen occupied more than 50
rooms. The Chapel Royal was
nearby. Cardinal Wolsey built
this Chapel on the site of the
former 13th century chapel of
the Knights Hospitaller of St.
John of Jerusalem. The interior
has been modified by successive
monarchs. A replica of Henry
VIII's crown was displayed in
the chapel. (The original was
melted down by Oliver Cromwell.)
Beverage storage area
|
Hand-turned spit in
kitchen |
Replica of Henry VIII's
crown |
Tea time in the
courtyard |
We had gotten separated from
Andy and Liz early on but called them from
our cell phone and arranged to
meet at 14:30 for tea at a
courtyard restaurant. The menu
read "afternoon tea." Based on our
earlier experiences, that was the
most generous tea, so Jane and I
decided to share one tea. When it
came, it was the skimpiest tea of
any kind that we had ever seen.
There was only one of each item,
and the one "scone" was less than
a third the size of
those we had had before.
