Hampton Court Palace Research Articles

Хемптон-Кортський лабіринт і "Троє у човні, якщо не рахувати собаки" Джерома К.Джерома.

The author presents the Hampton Court Maze in the way of Tudor’s history studying. The maze remains a hugely popular part of the Hampton Court Palace, which is the oldest surviving hedge maze in the UK and the first to have been planted in the country. It dates back to the end of the 17th century, when it was thought to have been commissioned by William III in his final years as monarch. Hampton Court’s maze became a hit when the gardens were opened to the public in 1838, demonstrating the popularity of multicausal mazes. The Hampton Court Maze designed and planted by garden designers George London and Henry Wise. The palace and gardens are found in Richmond Upon Thames. The author discovers for students this amazing maze in England and loses yourself in some history along the way. Described a tour of three men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Given some movies filmed by English writer Jerome K. Jerome’s humorous novel "Three Men in a Boat".

‘Were Our Ideas of Maintaining Control Mythical?’: Film Policy at Hampton Court Palace, 1911–1989

From 1851, the British government became responsible for the management of Hampton Court Palace in an arrangement of the Crown Lands Act, leading to the government maintaining the site on behalf of the reigning monarch ‘in right of Crown’. From 1911, the government considered whether to allow filmmakers access to Hampton Court for their productions. This article will trace the history of the film policy relating to this site until 1989, when Historic Royal Palaces was formed as an Executive Agency of Government to maintain the site, later acquiring charitable status in its own right in 1998. It will draw upon material held in the National Archives, which demonstrates how the film policy relating to Hampton Court adapted and changed over time. This article will analyse key film projects, both realised and unrealised, including Royal England: The Story of the Empire’s Throne (1911), Hampton Court Palace (1926) and The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) to explore how the government approached allowing filmmakers access to the site, and the reasons behind their rigid stance toward film production on location within the broader context of the government’s support toward the British film industry more generally.

‘Twelve thrills for the screen’ or a ‘ludicrous travesty’? Harry A. Berg’s Cosmopolitan Productions Limited and Haunted Houses and Castles of Great Britain (1926)

ABSTRACT The British film production company, Cosmopolitan Productions Limited, was founded in October 1924 by Americans Harry A. Berg and Ivor M. Rosenbaum. In its short life, the company produced a series of 12 two-reel films under the umbrella title Haunted Houses and Castles of Great Britain. Berg employed George A. Banfield as scriptwriter and producer, as well as well-known film directors including Bert Cann, Maurice Elvey and Fred Paul. The series was trade shown in January 1926, with a general release in September. However, due to various financial problems, Cosmopolitan Productions filed for bankruptcy in February 1926. Using a variety of archival sources, this article will trace the rise and fall of Cosmopolitan Productions within the context of the turbulent British film industry of the mid-1920s. Furthermore, it will offer analysis of the surviving short films from the series including Hampton Court Palace, Kenilworth Castle and Amy Robstart and Warwick Castle in Feudal Days.

Гемптон-корт палац і «тисяча днів королеви Анни».

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Anne Boleyn as Queen of England , on 1 June 1533. In Tudor history, 7th September 1533, Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, gave birth to Queen Elizabeth I. And this year marks the 500th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s birth. In 2022, on the March 4 marked 500 years to the day of Anne’s first recorded appearance at the English court in 1522. On September 1, 1532, Henry VIII had taken an unprecedented step: He had elevated a woman into England’s hereditary nobility. It was both a gift of love and compensation for enduring years of frustration while Henry tried to put an end to his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The article devoted to Hampton Court Palace and Anne Boleyn the Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henrich VIII. Anne Boleyn is called 'Anne of the Thousand Days' because Henrich VIII replaced her after roughly three years. Anne who waited seven years to marry the King was dismissed and disgraced within a third of that time. Despite ruling for just three years during the Tudor dynasty, Anne Boleyn is one of the most famous queens in British History. She played a major role in the English Reformation along with Henry VIII. The author presents the events of Tudor history before Anne Boleyn’s coronation, which will be described in the next article.

Hampton Court Palace and 'Anne of the Thousand Days'

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Anne Boleyn as Queen of England , on 1 June 1533. In Tudor history, 7th September 1533, Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, gave birth to Queen Elizabeth I. And this year marks the 500th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s birth. In 2022, on the March 4 marked 500 years to the day of Anne’s first recorded appearance at the English court in 1522. On September 1, 1532, Henry VIII had taken an unprecedented step: He had elevated a woman into England’s hereditary nobility. It was both a gift of love and compensation for enduring years of frustration while Henry tried to put an end to his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The article devoted to Hampton Court Palace and Anne Boleyn the Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henrich VIII. Anne Boleyn is called 'Anne of the Thousand Days' because Henrich VIII replaced her after roughly three years. Anne who waited seven years to marry the King was dismissed and disgraced within a third of that time. Despite ruling for just three years during the Tudor dynasty, Anne Boleyn is one of the most famous queens in British History. She played a major role in the English Reformation along with Henry VIII. The author presents Hampton Court Palace in London and its History, its historic landscape gardens features elements that illustrate significant periods of the art of gardens.

Mapping Materials and Dyes on Historic Tapestries Using Hyperspectral Imaging

Hyperspectral imaging has emerged as a promising analytical method of artwork due to its potential in combining non-invasive analytical capabilities and imaging allowing the survey of the entire (or of a large area of the) surface of an artwork, which is a highly significant application for historic tapestries. This project deployed a high-resolution ClydeHSI Art Scanner, which was used with both a push-broom visible to very-near infrared (VNIR; 400–1000 nm) and near infrared (NIR; 900–1700 nm) hyperspectral cameras. Initial testing focused on the characterisation and mapping of the different materials used on historic tapestries (wool, silk, metal threads). To facilitate the dye characterisation, a collection of wool and silk samples dyed with recipes based on medieval practices was used. The samples measured using the system and the data collected formed an external reference library including the type of the natural dyes and mordants used during their production. The outcomes of the on-site deployment of this analytical instrumentation for the characterisation and analysis of 16th century tapestries on display at Hampton Court Palace will be discussed.

Versailles in England: Culture, Commerce and Diplomacy, from Charles II to Louis XVI

The English fascination for Versailles and the French court was reflected not only in numerous visits to the palace in France, but also in gardens, architecture, decoration and manners in England. Diplomats, such as Ralph Montagu, later Master of the Great Wardrobe in England, craftsmen such as Daniel Marot, a Huguenot refugee who had worked for Louis XIV, and travellers brought their direct experience of Versailles to England. Particularly in its use of frescoes with monarchical themes and in the prominence and furnishings of the King’s Bedchamber, Versailles was one of the models (although not the only one) for Hampton Court Palace, Boughton and Chatsworth, among other houses. Recent work by Anna Keay, Simon Thurley and others confirms that some rituals and fashions followed at Versailles also influenced the English court: especially under Charles II, the first English king to have a lever and a coucher; William III, who planned his own Trianon beside Hampton Court; and the future George IV, who filled Carlton House with furniture like that at Versailles. The influence of Versailles in England shows the power of court culture to outweigh wars and national rivalries.

Queens Consort, Gender and Diplomacy: Catherine of Aragon, Claude of France and the Field of Cloth of Gold

AbstractIn 1520, two queens consort, Catherine of Aragon and Claude of France, attended the event now known as the Field of Cloth of Gold. This article analyses representations of their involvement across three sources; contemporary diplomatic correspondence and two later sources, Edward Hall's Chronicle (1548 and 1550) and the Hampton Court Palace painting of the Field (c. 1545). It examines how the producers of these sources shaped the function of the consort according to their own motivations, genre and the context of their own time. It argues that each source acknowledges the consorts as important to the event's success, but that while contemporary letters represent Catherine and Claude as individuals, the later sources exhibit shifting narratives to focus on the trope of ideal queenship. A similar shift was not apparent for kingship. This comparison of contemporary and later depictions of the consorts reveals a gendered reshaping of their role at the Field across time according to the needs of the creators which, in turn, sheds light on understandings of queenship and diplomatic engagement in early modern England.

Sir Hugh Paulet and the Christening of Prince Edward, Monday 15 October 1537

This article explores the moment that Henry VIII’s son, the future Edward VI, was christened at Hampton Court Palace on Monday 15 October 1537. It addresses the event as a moment of magnificent courtly celebration, largely owing to the collective sense of relief at the safe delivery of a healthy, legitimate male heir. As such, we find aspirational families vying for a position at — or an invitation to — court in the name of career progression. Accordingly, the article highlights in particular the presence of one of the guests at the christening, Sir Hugh Paulet (c. 1500–73), and shows how his invitation and attendance symbolised his enhanced status within his native county of Somerset and confirmed his place among the great and good of the kingdom. The subplot to this event, however, was an outbreak of plague across London and the south of England, leading the King to move away from the city and to keep his family and his court in isolation in the healthier environs of his favourite royal palace. The plague itself offers a crucial context to this ceremony, as it suggests that even in the face of such dangers, Paulet and others like him saw the necessity of attending this ceremony. Indeed, the reverse is also true: the King needed to demonstrate his favour for those who were loyal.

Integrating non-destructive techniques into the scientifically robust assessment of vulnerable historic masonry: Case studies on Reigate Stone

This paper summarises a scientific methodology for assessing masonry decay, developed over the course of a four-year research project on Reigate Stone at the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace. Reigate Stone is a vulnerable building stone with a complex history of use, high cultural value and poorly understood decay processes. The Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace, managed by Historic Royal Palaces, contain a large amount of Reigate Stone masonry. As such, these important historic sites provided a range of different case studies for investigating Reigate Stone decay. Masonry decay is increasingly being understood in terms of complex system dynamics, in which the interactions between primary building stone, replacement stones, mortar and invasive agents of anthropogenic or environmental origin are as important as the nature of the building stones themselves in controlling non-linear response to environmental mechanisms. Integrating this diverse set of variables significantly increases the complexity of scientifically robust stone conservation. Non-destructive techniques (NDT) play an important role in addressing this complexity, but in order to make sense of the data they capture, it is vital to appreciate different scales of investigation and distinguish between rapid and in-depth protocols.

Developing ‘Smart’ Solutions for Light Management for Historic Collections

ABSTRACT In 2011 Historic Royal Palaces began to investigate protective measures for historic tapestries on open display at Hampton Court Palace. The environmental exposure conditions for each tapestry were analysed and mapped to evaluate risk. An innovative method to reduce illuminance and direct sunlight on the historic tapestries using ‘smart’ technologies was developed. The design, testing and implementation of the installation of Smart Tint liquid crystal films whose optical appearance can be switched electrically from opaque to transparent, are presented. Substantial reduction (>90%) in direct light transmission could be achieved when the film is opaque. It also provides additional protection from ultraviolet (99%) and infrared radiation (98%). An entirely reversible and customised installation method had to be devised using pressure-fixed lightweight aluminium frames. An automated controller was also installed to change the individual windows from clear to opaque during different times of the day depending on their orientation and the time of the year while a dedicated wireless mesh network system enabled communication between each window and the controller. The impact of this installation is described. The use of ‘smart’ technologies offered dynamic light protection for collections on open display while maintaining the presentation of the historic room. The benefits of adopting this innovative technology include its flexible and unobtrusive installation.

Assessing the Long-term Success of Reigate Stone Conservation at Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London

ABSTRACT Reigate stone was extensively used in medieval London and is prone to rapid decay. A variety of different conservation treatments has been applied in the past; in many cases, these have not mitigated on-going decay. This paper presents an overview of wax, limewash, silane and ammonium tartrate treatment at the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace. Documentary analysis and visual inspection indicate that whilst these methods have provided protection to some stones, no single method has resulted in the protection of all stones. Non-destructive and minimally-destructive testing is used to more closely assess the effects of ammonium tartrate treatment. The results imply that inherent stone mineralogy, past decay pathways and/or present environmental factors are a greater influence on on-going decay than treatment histories.

“It Feels Like You Have Stepped Back in Time”: Implementing Authenticity Research in Henry VIII’s Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace

In 2015, Historic Royal Palaces undertook a large-scale audience research study to explore how visitors to our sites understand the idea of authenticity and whether it matters. The key finding was that while visitors strongly agreed that historic building fabric and objects are important, their primary response to authenticity is emotional. Whether a space feels authentic is not simply about the material originality of the building and objects. Re-creations, human, and multisensory experiences were often seen as adding to authenticity. This research is informing and shaping Historic Royal Palaces’s work, most notably the re-presentation of Henry VIII’s Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace which opened in May 2018, combining historic building fabric and fixtures, re-created furniture and objects, groundbreaking use of audiovisuals (AV), and live interpretation led by our team of food historians. Taking Henry VIII’s Kitchens as a case study, this article will reveal Historic Royal Palaces’s research into visitor perceptions of authenticity and how this is being applied in practice.

The Triumphs of Petrarch at Hampton Court Palace: Weaving an Italian Iconography in a Netherlandish Tapestry

The Triumphs of Petrarch at Hampton Court Palace: Weaving an Italian Iconography in a Netherlandish Tapestry

‘To Keep off the Company’ – a study of a seventeenth-century royal bed rail from Hampton Court Palace

This article discusses the use and evolution of the royal bedchamber in seventeenth century England, through a unique case study of a surviving bed rail from Hampton Court Palace. This remarkable survival from the royal bedchamber has recently been discovered to date from before the English Commonwealth. It had previously been forgotten for many years before it was rediscovered in the nineteenth century, when it was first shown to the public as an altar rail from the royal chapel. More recently it has been associated with King Charles II: however, new technical and historical research has revealed that this rail was in fact made much earlier, during the reign of his father, Charles I, and before the period when English kings adopted the French ceremony of the lever and coucher. It now appears likely to have been made for his French queen, Henrietta Maria, who brought many novel fashions and possessions to England, including the use of a bed rail for her accouchements. Later alterations to the rail suggest it was soon adapted for Charles II, and perhaps his Queen, Catherine of Braganza, and then again used in the early eighteenth century by first Hanoverian King of Great Britain, George I. The final section of the article discusses how this unique object contrasts with the bedchamber furnishings of other English kings and queens in the later-seventeenth century, who developed their own distinctive form of bedchamber ceremony using a very different mode of bed rail. It is argued that this was in response to the new parliamentary monarchy in England, and contrasted to the focus on the royal body placed in the palaces of absolutist monarchs of France and many other European countries at this time.

‘To Keep off the Company’ – a study of a seventeenth-century royal bed rail from Hampton Court Palace

Cet article etudie les usages et les evolutions de la chambre royale en Angleterre au xviie siecle a travers l’etude de la seule balustrade de lit conservee, provenant du palais d’Hampton Court. Ce remarquable temoin de la chambre royale a recemment ete date d’avant le Commonwealth [1649-1660]. Redecouvert au xixe siecle apres des annees d’oubli, il fut presente a nouveau au public, mais comme une cloture d’autel provenant d’une chapelle royale. Plus recemment, il a ete associe au roi Charles II ; toutefois, de nouvelles analyses techniques et historiques ont revele que la balustrade avait en fait ete realisee plus tot, sous le regne de son pere, Charles Ier, et donc avant la periode au cours de laquelle les rois anglais adopterent l’usage francais des ceremonies du lever et du coucher. Il apparait desormais fortement probable qu’elle a ete confectionnee pour son epouse francaise, la reine Henriette-Marie, qui importa en Angleterre de nombreux usages et des meubles francais, notamment l’emploi d’une balustrade lors des naissances royales. Des modifications posterieures du meuble suggerent qu’il a ete adapte pour Charles II et, peut-etre, son epouse Catherine de Bragance, puis a nouveau utilise au debut du xviiie siecle par le premier roi Hanovre de Grande-Bretagne, Georges Ier. La derniere partie de cet article s’interroge sur l’unicite de cet objet, qui contraste avec l’ameublement habituel des autres souverains anglais de la fin du xviie siecle, qui developperent leur propre ceremonial de chambre en utilisant des clotures de lit d’un type tres different. On propose d’y voir une reaction a la monarchie parlementaire nouvelle en Angleterre, a l’oppose de l’attention accrue autour de la personne du roi que l’on voit alors apparaitre dans les monarchies absolues de France et de plusieurs autres pays europeens.

‘Unlocking the door to being there’: The contribution of creative facilitators in supporting people living with dementia to engage with heritage settings

This article reports findings from the evaluation of 'Sensory Palaces', an innovative project developed by the charity Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after six of the United Kingdom's unoccupied royal palaces. The Sensory Palaces project employs creative facilitators to support people living with dementia and their care partners in engaging with two of these sites; Hampton Court Palace and Kew Palace. This paper focusses on the role and contribution of the creative facilitators in supporting people living with dementia to connect with these heritage spaces. It reports on data collected from facilitator interviews relating to the benefits of engaging together through sensory and creative methods to explore and share experiences of the palaces, drawing out important factors from the design, content and delivery of the sessions.

Balancing Significance and Maintaining ‘Sense of Place’ in the Sustainable Display of Tudor Tapestries in the Great Hall, Hampton Court Palace

ABSTRACT Hampton Court Palace’s Great Hall located in Surrey, UK, is a magnificent late medieval hall. Its large hammer-beam roof is sumptuously decorated while its walls for the past century have been rehung with Henry VIII’s five-hundred-year-old tapestries illustrating The Story of Abraham, and one of the most internationally significant sets of sixteenth-century tapestries, commissioned for the same hall. This paper presents research which began in 2007, exploring conservation solutions based on evidence-based decision-making, through to successful implementation of measures that conserve these invaluable tapestries without damaging the aesthetic or physical integrity of the Great Hall. The impacts of environmental exposure conditions mapped in detail were assessed to evaluate risk for each tapestry. Next, feasibility studies identified the effectiveness of a range of potential mitigating options to address each local risk, now being incrementally implemented over many years. The research has enabled us to develop, test and deliver permanent interventions that have – when considered together as a holistic management regime – allowed the tapestries to remain in situ. These interventions will continue to be monitored and evaluated for at least a further year to confirm their effectiveness.

Developing a non-invasive tool to assess the impact of oxidation on the structural integrity of historic wool in Tudor tapestries

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) can be a useful diagnostic tool in the assessment of quality in textile, agricultural and various other industries. In cultural heritage applications, NIR as a non-invasive assessment tool is advantageous for understanding the composition or degradation of fragile historic objects that cannot be sampled. The direct interpretation of measured NIR spectra is complicated by overlapping bands produced from overtone and combination bands of chemical bonds. However, in combination with multivariate partial least squares (PLS) models and principal component analysis, the physicochemical properties of historic materials can potentially be identified by calibrating against a measured component. In this research, wool fibres from a sacrificial collection of historic tapestry fragments housed at Hampton Court Palace were analysed. The cystine oxidation products of historic wools which can be related to the embrittlement of fibres and ultimately fibre loss, were recorded using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A PLS predictive model was then developed using previously measured NIR spectra for the same historic tapestry fragments to predict the ratios of the cystine oxidation species in historic wools measured in this research. The prediction of a validation set of historic tapestry fragments with known oxidation product ratios was found to be accurate to root mean squared errors of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.11 for cysteic acid/cystine dioxide, 0.03 for an oxidation ratio of cysteic acid/cystine monoxide and 0.06 for cystine dioxide/cystine monoxide. The model was applied successfully to an independent set of historic tapestry fragments with unknown oxidation ratios with an M-distance pass limit of 3. The models were also applied to NIR measurements of historic tapestries on open display with limited success. Alternative methods to investigate and account for errors in this research are proposed. The potential for NIR to be used by conservators as a non-invasive tool for the assessment of textiles, complementing current condition audit practices in use at heritage institutions is also discussed.

From a royal residence to a royal collection: the state apartments at Hampton Court Palace, 1737–1838

From a royal residence to a royal collection: the state apartments at Hampton Court Palace, 1737–1838