A HISTORY OF SURREY 



memory of this did not diminish the attraction of the 

 place for her. She was constantly here when she be- 

 came queen, and it was during her reign that Richmond 

 perhaps reached the height of its brilliance and gaiety. 80 

 The queen at length died at the palace, having con- 

 tracted a cold and removed to Richmond, which she 

 regarded as the ' warm winter-box to shelter her old 



age.' 31 



On the accession of the Stuarts Richmond became 

 less frequently the abode of the sovereigns. James I 

 used the palace very little, although the courts of 

 Exchequer, Wards, Liveries and Duchy of Lancaster 

 were temporarily moved to the manor of Richmond 

 in October 1603 "in consequence of the plague." 

 The palace, however, still continued to have a royal 

 resident in the person of the young Prince Henry, 

 who spent a large sum of money on improvements 

 and passed most of his time here from 1604 until 

 his death in 1612." His brother also lived here as 

 Prince of Wales," and a few months after his accession 

 to the throne as Charles I the Exchequer and the 

 records belonging to it were again moved to Rich- 

 mond, owing to the plague, 36 which, however, attacked 

 the village itself in the summer of 1625." The king 

 gave the palace with the manor (q.v.) to Queen 

 Henrietta Maria, probably in 1626, and it became 

 the home of the royal children. 18 Richmond was again 

 visited by the plague in 1 640," and in 1 641 a member 

 of the prince's household died of it, the prince himself 

 having joined the queen at Oatlands. 40 When, in 

 I 647, the Parliament was anxious to take the king out 

 of the hands of the army, they voted that he should be 

 removed to Richmond," but the impeachment of the 

 eleven members by the army caused the idea to be 

 abandoned." After the execution of Charles a very 

 interesting and detailed survey of the palace was 

 taken." It is stated in the course of it that 

 the capital messuage, palace, or court-house con- 

 sisted of 'one large and fair structure of free stone, 

 of two stories high covered with lead ' ; and that 

 the higher story contained ' one fayr and large room, 

 I oo feet in length and 40 in breadth, called the great 

 hall.' This, no doubt, was of the height of two stories ; 

 for the ' Privy lodgings ' were three stories high, and 

 the whole appears to have been of one height, 

 except the towers. In the chapel building the ' third 

 stoj-ie conteyns one fayr and large room 96 feet long and 

 30 feet broad, used for a chapel. This room is very 

 well fitted with all things useful for a chapel ; as 

 fair lights, handsome cathedral seates and pewes, a 

 removeable pulpit, and a fayr case of carved work for 

 a payr of organs.' Richmond Green ' conteyns twenty 

 acres, more or less, excellent land, to be depastured 

 only with sheep ; is well turfed, level, and a special orna- 

 ment to the palace. . One hundred and thirteen elm 

 trees, forty-eight whereof stand all together on the 

 west side, and include in them a very handsome walk.' 



The palace was sold in 1650 to Thomas Rookesby, 

 William Goodrick, and Adam Baynes," on behalf of 

 themselves and other creditors, and subsequently to 

 Sir Gregory Norton, but it was restored with the 

 manor (q.v.) to Queen Henrietta Maria in 1660," 

 although in a dismantled condition, having suffered 

 much dilapidation during the interregnum. A cer- 

 tain Elizabeth wife of Andrew Mollett gave evi- 

 dence that Henry Carter of Richmond was the first 

 puller-down of the king's house there, sold stones to 

 the value of 1,000, and raised forces within the 

 previous three months to oppose the Restoration. 4 * 

 The ruined palace was never rebuilt. The ' capital 

 messuage ' was included in the grant of the manor 

 (q.v.) to James, Duke of York, in 1664, but in 1703 

 the remains of it were broken up into several houses 

 and tenements. 



Now but little is left to confirm the fact that 

 there was a palace upon the site built as late as the 

 time of Henry VII and standing in the I7th century. 

 The most conspicuous of the remains are those in 

 the house occupied by Mr. John Lyell Middleton 

 (facing Richmond Green) and the gateway to Ward- 

 robe Court, with its upper chamber forming part of 

 the house. The gateway is of red brick, and has a 

 large four-centred archway of stone over which is a 

 perished stone panel bearing the arms of Henry VII, 

 on the east side towards the green. North of the 

 large archway is a doorway with a Tudor head to- 

 wards the green and a square-headed doorway towards 

 the court. Over the panel of arms on the east side is an 

 1 8th-century oriel window, and on the other side three 

 blocked windows above a stone string-course with a 

 moulded top member and a bead at the bottom. The 

 building is cut short north of the gateway, but evidence 

 of its continuation in that direction is given by the 

 arched recesses on the ground floor and the blocked 

 doorway in the upper story, besides the marks showing 

 the position of the first floor and the flat roof on that 

 face which now overlooks the gardens of the Old 

 Court House, an 18th-century building occupied by 

 Mrs. B. Crowther. Some of the lower walls of 

 Mr. Middleton's house no doubt retain the original 

 brickwork, and the three projecting bays on the east 

 front a semi-octagonal one between two five-sided 

 bays are evidently on the old foundations, but there 

 is little in the house to call attention to its age 

 excepting a fireplace on the first floor with a Tudor 

 arch and a 17th-century chimney-stack on the west 

 side. 



Running back from this house and forming the 

 present south-east boundary of the Wardrobe Court is 

 the house occupied by Mr. George Cave, K.C., M.P. ; 

 it seems very doubtful whether the walls of this house 

 are on the Tudor foundations. Wynyardes' view of 

 the east front, taken in 1562, shows the gateway to be 

 almost in the middle of the courtyard instead of very 



80 Cat. S.P. Dom. and Acti of P.O. for 

 reign of Eliz. ; also Hat. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xii and xiii, passim. 



81 Hiit. MSS. Cam. Rep. ix, App. ii, 

 423 ; Strickland, Li-vet of the Queens of 

 Engl. iv, 771, 783. 



Ba Stow, op. cit. 828. 



88 Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 411. 



84 Ibid. ; Folkestone Williams, op. cit. 

 ii, 199; iii, 23 ; Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xii, App. iv, 396. 



86 Folkestone Williams, op. cit. iii, 43. 



88 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-6, p. 73. 

 *> Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xi, App. i, 29. 

 See the Richmond Parish Registers. 



88 Folkestone Williams, op. cit iii, 129; 

 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1640, p. 167 ; Hiit. 

 MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. ii, 132. 



89 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1640-1, p. 333. 

 Richmond Parish Registers show an un- 

 usual number of burials from June to 

 the end of August. 



40 Ibid. 1641-3, p. 134. 



41 Commons' Journ. v, 210. 



45 Whitelocke, Mem. of Engl. Affairs, 

 June 1647. 



48 The survey of 1649 is printed in 

 the Vetmta Monumenta (Soc. of Antiq.), 

 ii, and is also transcribed by Mr. 

 Chancellor in his Hiit. of Richmond, 

 Ke-w, Petersham, and Ham, App. B. See 

 also Surr. Arch. Coll. v, 75-103. 



44 Lysons, Environs of London, \, 442. 



4 * Commons' Journ. viii, 73. Sir Gregory 

 was a regicide. 



46 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1660-1, p. 71. 



