Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace: Two Palaces in One Building

Hampton Court Palace was built in the 1510s by Cardinal Wolsey as his private residence, then acquired by Henry VIII after Wolsey’s fall from favour in 1529. Henry enlarged it extensively. A century and a half later, William III commissioned Christopher Wren to rebuild substantial sections in a Baroque style, at which point the original Tudor fabric was partially demolished. The result is a building where two completely different architectural periods occupy the same site, separated by a courtyard: the red brick Tudor facade on the west side, and Wren’s classical south and east ranges facing the formal gardens.

This makes Hampton Court more interesting architecturally than most English palaces. You can stand in Base Court and see what Henry VIII’s builders laid down, walk through the archway into Clock Court, and find yourself looking at Wren’s 1690s stone facades on the opposite side. The astronomical clock on the Anne Boleyn Gateway, made in 1540, shows the time, the phase of the moon, and the hour of high tide at London Bridge.

The interior

Henry VIII’s Great Hall is the largest surviving Tudor great hall in England. The hammerbeam roof is original. The tapestries on the walls are Flemish, from the 1540s, depicting the story of Abraham - bought by Henry specifically for this room and still hanging in approximately the positions they were made for.

The Tudor Kitchens cover 3,000 square feet and were used to feed a court of around 600 people twice daily. The scale of the equipment - the roasting ranges, the fish larder, the pastry house - gives a clearer sense of Tudor household logistics than anything in the apartments upstairs.

William III’s State Apartments, designed by Wren and decorated by Grinling Gibbons (the carved wooden frames in the King’s Presence Chamber), represent the most complete late 17th-century royal interior in England. The Mantegna cartoons - nine large paintings acquired by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection - are displayed in the Lower Orangery and are the most important artworks in the palace.

The gardens

The formal gardens on the south and east sides were laid out for William III and cover around 60 acres. The Privy Garden, restored to its 1702 configuration in the 1990s, is the most formal and worth walking through slowly. The Wilderness - the northern section - is more informal and has the famous hedge maze, planted around 1700.

The Great Vine, planted in 1768 and still producing approximately 270kg of Black Hamburg grapes annually, grows in a glasshouse at the eastern end of the gardens. Entry is included in the palace ticket.

Practicalities

Adult admission is GBP 29.90 (Historic Royal Palaces members free). Trains from London Waterloo to Hampton Court station take 35-40 minutes and run frequently; the station is directly across the bridge from the palace entrance.

Allow a full day. The palace is large and attempting to rush the kitchens, the State Apartments, and the gardens in two hours means missing most of what makes the visit worthwhile. The Tiltyard Cafe, in the grounds, is decent for lunch.