Ten Secrets Of Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is one of London’s most historic locations. The place just oozes with history. 

I was delighted recently to be taken on a tour of the palace by Daniel Jackson, head of historic buildings at Historic Royal Palaces. He showed me lots of the little details and secrets that many visitors miss.

I have highlighted ten of those little details below, but first a potted history.

The History: Wolsey To Henry

In 1494 a courtier called Giles Debauney leased the land where Hampton Court sits today from the Knights Hospitaller. Debauney expanded the original medieval manor that was already there.

In 1514 the property was then leased to Thomas Wolsey, King Henry VIII’s chief minister. 

He spent the following years rebuilding and enlarging the building, including putting in state rooms exclusively for the use of the King and his family when he visited.

In 1529, after Wolsey’s fall from favour, he gave the palace to the Henry VIII as part of an attempt to salvage his reputation. 

Henry then carried out his own major rebuilding project. Very little of Wolsey’s palace remains unchanged today. 

Henry transformed Hampton Court into a pleasure palace, a hotel, theatre and sports complex all rolled into one. He brought all of his six wives here at some point during their marriage. 

A Palace To Rival Versailles

Henry’s descendants and the Stuart monarchs also used Hampton Court for entertaining but enthusiasm for spending time at Hampton Court tailed off over the years. That is until William III and Mary II embarked on a huge rebuilding project in 1689. They commissioned none other than Sir Christopher Wren to draw up the plans. 

The plan was to replace Henry’s palace, bar the Great Hall, with a more modern Baroque palace to rival Versailles in France. 

After Mary died in 1694, William ceased the works on the palace and half of Henry’s palace survives today. 

George II was the last monarch to reside at Hampton Court and since the 1760s it has been used partly as Grace and Favour apartments. These are essentially rent-free apartments given to those who have given exceptional service to the crown and their families.

You can still see some of the old signs today. 

The palace was refurbished in the early 19th century and opened to the public during the reign of Queen Victoria in 1838.

Here are 10 little details that many visitors miss. You can see here a visitors map of the palace, if you would like to get your bearings.

1. Memories Of The Medieval Manor

In the impressive Clock Court, tear your eyes away from the dramatic red-brick architecture and look down to the floor. Laid out in different coloured bricks you will see the outline of Giles Debauney’s original medieval manor house.

That original medieval manor consisted of a house and moat. He added extra buildings intended for hosting King Henry VII. 

2. The Astronomical Clock

Whilst in Clock Court, make sure to pay attention to the astronomical clock.

Installed in 1540, it was designed by Nicholas Kratzner. It is still functioning and displays the hour, day, month, the number of days since the beginning of the year, the zodiac sign and can be understood to display the high water mark of the Thames. The latter would have of course been useful information for those travelling to or from Hampton Court by boat along the tidal Thames. There is an explainer about how to read the clock in the new Tudor World exhibition. 

The clock also gives you a much better idea of how colourful the palace would have once been. The stone and brick work of the palace would have originally been far more brightly decorated.

3. A Symbol Of Love

The Great Hall, built on Henry VIII’s orders, with its medieval-style hammer-beam roof is an impressive space. 

You cannot miss the beautiful Abraham tapestries hanging on the walls, probably commissioned by Henry in 1540. They are so exquisite and so valuable that when the palace and everything in it were valued during the Civil War in the 17th century, the tapestries were worth more than the rest of the palace combined.

When Henry married Anne Boleyn in 1533, the carpenters carved her coat of arms onto the roof as well as an entwined H and A. Eagle-eyed visitors will also spot Anne’s falcon badge, and the initials AR for Anna Regina.

4. The Eavesdroppers

Decorating the roof of the Great Hall are carved and painted heads.

These are literal ‘eavesdroppers’, reminding those dining below (usually the staff) that they are always being watched and listened to. 

5. The Oldest Thing In Hampton Court 

The Horn Room was originally where servants would have waited with food before taking it into the Great Hall or Watching Chamber. 

Today it is where all the antlers and hunting prizes are displayed. Unbeknownst to many, this room contains the oldest item in the palace.

This set of elk antlers are 15,000-20,000 years old.

They were a diplomatic gift from the Duke of Ormond to King Charles II. 

You can also see an original Tudor staircase from here, worn down by decades worth of scurrying servants.

6. Details In The Great Watching Chamber

Next, into the Great Watching Chamber.

This was the first of the state rooms after the Great Hall, in which members of the King’s guard would stand watch. Certain courtiers or dignitaries would then be allowed through the next set of doors. The higher your rank, the more access you would get to the king. 

Make sure to look at the ceiling. You will see the personal badge of Jane Seymour: a phoenix rising from a flaming tower.

You can also see where the ceiling has been restored and three original roundels to show the difference. 

7. A Hidden Tudor Gem

This tiny room in the heart of the palace often gets missed by visitors. 

The ‘Wolsey Closet’ is today slightly stranded in the middle of the Baroque palace, but it was originally part of the rooms created by Thomas Wolsey for Henry VIII. It was likely a small room for private conversations. Perhaps preparations for the divorce of Katherine of Aragon was discussed here between the two men. 

It has a stunning Tudor ceiling, possibly moved here from another room. 

It also has a painted frieze, with Wolsey’s motto: ‘Dominus michi adiutor’ – which translates to ‘the Lord be my helper’. 

You can also see where in the 1960s different layers of paintings have been revealed.

8. Reminders Of Wren

The stunning Fountain Court is at the heart of the Baroque palace.

Off the Western side there is a courtyard space where you can see the outside of the last surviving parts of Henry’s apartments. 

You can also see the outline on the wall of where Sir Christopher Wren’s octagonal office once stood when he was working on Hampton Court Palace.

9. A Hidden Chapel Wall

In the 1980s when a lift was installed, a wall of the Chapel Royal was revealed. It had been covered when the Baroque part of the palace was constructed and today is a special treat for anyone that goes into the little area to wait for the lift. 

It would have once had a huge stained glass window and looked out into the gardens to the East. 

The wall is also painted with a red wash, the mortar joints are picked out with white and the ‘diaper’ diamond pattern has been painted on.

The decoration, if left exposed to the elements, would have washed away but due it being covered it has survived. 

Traditionally the classic diamond pattern would have been created with darker bricks that had been fired for longer, so it is interesting that these have been painted on, in some cases actually going over the joins between the bricks. Again, this shows how decorated and painted the palace would have once been.

10. The World’s Largest Grapevine

There are lots of amazing sights and spaces in the gardens at Hampton Court (perhaps I will have to write a separate blog post on them at some point!) but one detail to look out for is the Great Vine.

The Great Vine was planted in 1768 when Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was in charge of the gardens, taken as a cutting from Valentines Mansion in Essex.

In 2005 it was given the Guiness World Record of being the largest grape vine in the world. It is four metres around the base and the longest rod is 36.5 metres.

Hampton Court Palace is such a fascinating day out. You can find out more about visiting here.

They have a new permanent exhibition called The Tudor World in the Wolsey Rooms, the oldest surviving part of the palace. It is about the Tudor dynasty, but also what was happening around the world at the time and the lives of ordinary people. Find out more here.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s hidden history!