Charles Binns - Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is a former royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, south west London, England. The palace is located upstream of Central London on the River Thames.

The Knights Hospitaller had operated a farm on the site since 1236. In 1505, the Lord Chamberlain, Sir Giles Daubeney, leased the property and used it to entertain Henry VII. King Henry the VIII built 49 other places around England similar in style to Hampton Court, however none remain today.

Thomas Wolsey, then Archbishop of York and Chief Minister to the King, took over the lease in 1514 and rebuilt the 14th-century manor house over the next seven years (1515–1521) to form the nucleus of the present palace. Wolsey spent lavishly to build the finest palace in England at Hampton Court which he was later forced to give to Henry as he began to fall from favour.

The few remaining Tudor sections of Hampton Court, which were later overhauled and rebuilt by Henry VIII, suggest that Wolsey intended it as an ideal Renaissance cardinal's palace in the style of Italian architects such as il Filarete and Leonardo da Vinci.

The palace was appropriated by Wolsey's master, Henry VIII, in about 1525, although the Cardinal continued to live there until 1529. Henry added the Great Hall - which was the last medieval Great Hall built for the English monarchy - and the Royal Tennis Court, which was built and is still in use for the game of real tennis, not the present-day version of the game.

In 1604, the Palace was the site of King James I of England's meeting with representatives of the English Puritans, known as the Hampton Court Conference; while agreement with the Puritans was not reached, the meeting led to James's commissioning of the King James Version of the Bible.

During the reign of William and Mary, parts of Henry's additions were demolished, a new wing was added (partly under the supervision of Sir Christopher Wren), and the state apartments came into regular use. Half the Tudor palace was replaced in a campaign that lasted from 1689–1694. After the Queen died, William lost interest in the renovations, but it was in Hampton Court Park in 1702 that he fell from his horse, later dying from his injuries at Kensington Palace. In later reigns, the state rooms were neglected, but under George II and his queen, Caroline, further refurbishment took place, with architects such as William Kent employed to design new furnishings. The Queen's Private Apartments are open to the public and include her bathroom, bedroom.

From the reign of George III in 1760, monarchs tended to favour other London homes, and Hampton Court ceased to be a royal residence, although originally it housed 70 grace-and-favour residences; few remain occupied as of May 2006, one of them was once home to Olave Baden-Powell, wife of the founder of the Scouting movement. One of the warders at the palace in the mid-nineteenth century was Samuel Parkes who won the Victoria Cross in the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854.

Hampton Court is the site of the world-famous Hampton Court Palace Hedge Maze. Planted sometime between 1689 and 1695 by George London and Henry Wise for William III of Orange, it covers a third of an acre and contains half a mile of paths. It is possible that the current design replaced an earlier maze planted for Thomas Cardinal Wolsey. It was originally planted of hornbeam, although it has been repaired using many different types of hedge.

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