Hampton Court Palace

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

C16 garden and parkland attached to Hampton Court, a royal palace from 1530. Henry VIII and subsequent monarchs enlarged and improved the estate. The pleasure grounds were altered by, among others, William Talman, George London, and Henry Wise.

NOTE This entry is a summary. Because of the complexity of this site, the standard Register entry format would convey neither an adequate description nor a satisfactory account of the development of the landscape. The user is advised to consult the references given below for more detailed accounts. Many Listed Buildings exist within the site, not all of which have been here referred to. Descriptions of these are to be found in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Hampton Court is located in outer south-west London on the north bank of the River Thames, c 200m to the north-east of Hampton Court Bridge (listed grade II). The town of Kingston lies c 2.5km north-east of the Palace buildings. The River Thames provides the boundary to the south and east. To the west and north the grounds are bounded by Hampton Court Road (A309) which to the north separates Hampton Court Park from Bushy Park (qv). The brick walls and railings (listed grade II) around the site are of various dates from the C16 onwards and enclose c 218ha of level ground which extends north, east, and south of the Palace of Hampton Court.

The main approach to Hampton Court Palace is from Hampton Court Road to the west, through the late C17 Trophy Gate (listed grade I) and along a wide straight drive. The c 125m drive runs south-east between level lawns, with the River Thames to the south and the late C17 Barracks (listed grade I) to the north, terminating in a forecourt on the west side of the Palace. Numerous other gates provide entrances around the site, the most notable being the C18 Lion Gates (listed grade I) to the north of the site.

The site consists of c 21ha of pleasure grounds to the north, east, and south of the Palace with c 197ha of parkland beyond the pleasure grounds to the east. The Palace itself (listed grade I) was begun in 1514 for Cardinal Wolsey, then extensively altered under Henry VIII and again by Sir Christopher Wren from 1689 onwards.

The main focus of the gardens lies east of the Palace beyond the Broad Walk (c 1700) to the Fountain Garden. This area within a semicircle of lime trees was grassed over by 1708 when William III's Great Parterre with its thirteen pools and fountains designed by Daniel Marot (1661-1752), was abandoned. This left the three broad radial gravel walks (patte d'oie) edged with yews and hollies which are aligned to The Long Water and the C18 lime avenues in Hampton Court Park (replanted between 1990 and 1994).

To the south of the Palace is the Privy Garden. Backed by elaborate wrought-iron screens made by Jean Tijou (c 1690), the Privy Garden was laid out to the design made for William III, possibly by William Talman and Henry Wise or Daniel Merot, but the parterre was not quite complete before William died c 1702. It was reconstructed between 1993and 1995. To the west of the Privy Garden are the early C20 Pond Gardens enclosed by C15 walls. This area was known in the C16 as the Pond Yard and in the late C17 as the Glass Case Gardens. The gardens were remodelled c 1924 but the Vine House still houses the Great Vine planted by Lancelot Brown in 1768.

To the north-west of the Palace is the Tilt Yard Garden, a rectangular area c 2.5ha in extent on the site of the C17 kitchen garden, which was formerly Henry VIII's Tilt Yard. The area is divided into six by tarmac paths and enclosed within C16-C18 walls. The gardens were laid out c 1924 with grass and cut beds; today (1998) five of the divisions are laid to grass with cut beds planted out with roses, shrubs, and annual bedding plants, while the sixth, in the south-west corner nearest to the main entrance, has been tarmacked over for car parking. The surviving Tudor Tiltyard Tower (listed grade II*) to the east has been added to and is now incorporated into a restaurant. To the east of the Tilt Yard Garden and divided from it by a C16 brick wall is the Wilderness. Made on the site of the Old Tudor Orchard, the Wilderness was planted as a bosquet, with hornbeam and elm. It is thought to have been started in James II's reign by the French garden designer Guillaume Beaumont (d 1727), best known for his work at Levens Hall, Cumbria (qv). The present (1998) planting is largely C20. In the north-west corner, to the west of the early C18 Lion Gates (listed grade I), is the triangular maze, made from yew hedges planted to replace the C18 hornbeam hedges in 1963.

To the east of the Fountain Garden is Hampton Court Park which retains much of the original level ground imparked by the early C16 and originally named House Park. The park is dominated by The Long Water; made for Charles II in 1661-2, it extends for c 1km east of the Fountain Garden and is lined with double avenues of lime trees, a few of which survive from the C17. The park is crossed by other late C17/early C18 avenues, replanted from 1987 onwards. A golf course established in 1895 takes up much of the land to the south of The Long Water.

Between the golf course and the River Thames on the south side of the park is the early C18 Wren Pavilion (the only survivor of the original four), and the Pavilion Terrace (listed grade II). The 500m Terrace extends south-east from the south end of the Broad Walk and was made to provide access to a bowling green (now gone).

REFERENCES

Note. There is a wealth of published material about this site. The key references are listed below.

W Keane, The Beauties of Middlesex (1850)

B Cherry and N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 2 South (1983), pp 481-500

M Batey and J Woudstra, The Story of the Privy Garden (1995)

S Thurley (ed), The King's Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace 1689-1995 (1998)

Royal Parks Historical Survey: Hampton Court and Bushy Park (Travers Morgan Planning 1982)

Draft Management Plan, (Land Use Consultants 1995) [These two studies bring together the historical research and identify all the sources, plans, maps, documents etc.]

Description written: June 1998 Amended: December 1998

Register Inspector: LCH

Edited: November 2001