Recent work on Royal Palaces
| Jonathan Foyle, Independent Historian and TV presenter | Recent Lecture |
|
The talk’s original title ‘The Archaeology of Buckingham Palace’ was amended to include other palaces. In his October 2003 talk to the Society Jonathan had been attempting to establish that Hampton Court had continental, renaissance, origins. Since then his work with Historic Scotland has introduced him to other important buildings such as Stirling Castle. When Henry VIII came to the English throne James IV of Scotland had only four years left of his reign, and although much of Henry’s work at Hampton Court was taken down or remodelled, James’ son James V’s remodelling of part of Stirling Castle, incorporating a suite of rooms designed for his French wife, Mary of Guise, has survived. Lions may indeed have been kept in a courtyard at Stirling known as the ‘Lion’s Den’, the beasts being viewed from the overlooking windows and possibly fed through holes in the walls. Statues of goddesses on pillars attached to outside walls and dating to 1538-41 may be the oldest renaissance features in Britain and there are plans to restore them; those facing towards England look very aggressive! After the uniting of the two countries the English Kings did not use Scottish Castles, perhaps the reason why these features have survived. |
Involved with the restoration of Kew Palace, Jonathan studied plans and illustrations at The National Archives, looking particularly for references to decoration: contemporary illustrations do not give much idea of the Palace’s original colour, inside or out. The front doorway is Jacobean and there were drawings from the 1730s for new sash windows. Records mention the King’s bedchamber and library, and it is evident that the kitchen block was converted for the King’s use during his bouts of illness. The adjacent, larger Palace was never completed and was blown up in 1827, but one iron staircase went to Buckingham Palace.
The latter is the latest of several houses built on an area of marshy wasteland once owned by Westminster Abbey and part of the flood plain of the rivers Tyburn and Westbourne. In an apparent attempt to start a silk industry, James 1st planted mulberry trees there, but the project failed. |
It was demolished and Arlington House took its place around 1674, to be again replaced by Buckingham House, later developed into the present Palace. A canal dug here in the 1660s extended to near Whitehall Palace. Jonathan showed an excerpt from the Time Team programme in which excavations took place at several Royal palaces. It was hoped at Buckingham Palace to establish the position of the earlier houses, but it seems they probably lie beneath the present building. The dig did uncover the brick- and clay-lined canal, containing one white china mug probably made at Putney, plus a Victorian earring, and the team also looked for some known Civil War defences in the grounds although were not allowed to dig there, possibly to avoid any awkward publicity about previous Parliamentary connections! Inside the Palace they were only allowed to inspect the wine cellars, which have a somewhat ‘municipal’ look with the names Tetley and Carlsberg much in evidence; but noticeably the cellars are of the same proportion as Buckingham House. More features were found at Holyrood and Windsor Castle during these excavations than at Buckingham Palace. Yvonne Masson |