KINGSTON HUNDRED 



RICHMOND 



much to the south of the centre line as now. A straight 

 joint in the wall between the two houses in question 

 appears to mark the original depth of the building 

 east of the court ; the other building running east 

 and west has an 1 8th-century brick face on its south 

 side, but the wall towards the court has bricks of the 

 previous century at least ; it is not improbable that 

 when thi; house was erected the large number of old 

 bricks about the site were utilized for the north wall, 

 or it is possible that the court was reduced in size by 

 James II when he repaired the palace, and this wall 

 built then ; the interior of the house has fittings of 

 the 1 8th century and later. 



The house to the west of the court, sometimes 

 called the Trumpeting House, and occupied by the 

 Rev. Arthur Welsh Owen, is also an 18th-century 

 building, said to have been erected by Richard Hill, 

 brother to Queen Anne's favourite, Mrs. Masham, who 

 had it on lease in 1703." It has a fine ceiling in the 

 drawing-room. The ' Trumpeters ' are two half-size 

 stone figures of men or boys in the dress of the time 

 of Henry VII flat caps, long hair, long cloaks, and 

 tight hosen with their arms (formerly) in such a 

 posture as to suggest they were blowing trumpets ; 

 their arms are now broken off. 48 



Asgill House occupies the site of the north-west 

 corner of the palace ; it is a stone building in the form 

 of a Greek cross, built by Sir Robert Taylor for 

 Sir Charles Asgill, Lord Mayor 1757-8, in the 

 middle of the i8th century ; the rooms in the west 

 wing are octagonal, and there is very little doubt that 

 this wing stands on one of the octagonal turrets in the 

 north-west corner of the palace and that the plan was 

 influenced somewhat by the pre-existing foundations. 

 This has also occurred in the new house, called 

 Garrick House, built on the site of the north-east 

 corner of the palace, after the old theatre was de- 

 molished and the road widened. When the excavations 

 were made for the foundations of the house the founda- 

 tions of an octagonal turret were opened out, and these 

 being very hard to destroy, the architect accepted the 

 situation and used the old foundations for an octagonal 

 chamber in his new structure. The ' Tea House ' 

 is a summer-house in the gardens of the Trum- 

 peting House, and seems to be another small relic of 

 the palace buildings ; it possesses no very distinc- 

 tive architectural features, but is evidently of some 

 age, and the position it occupies seems to coincide 

 almost exactly with the small square wing at the 

 south-west corner, as shown by Hollar's view of the 

 west side made in 1638. It is cemented exter- 

 nally, but it would be interesting to know if the 

 cement conceals the round-arched doorway shown by 

 Hollar. 



Beyond the above-mentioned relics there is little 

 else above ground to confirm the old views as to the 

 size and character of the palace. Various garden walls 



with straight joints here and there, a small rectangular 

 ' peep hole ' or loop light, and other slight evidences, 

 all point to their having had some connexion with the 

 buildings ; but without some further aid from other 

 sources, such as excavations, &c., may afford, their 

 exact relation to the whole can only remain a matter for 

 surmise.* 9 



Henry VII is said to have formed a library at 

 Richmond Palace, 50 and to have appointed Quentin 

 Paulet to the librarianship." In 1516 Giles Duwes 

 was granted the office of keeper of the king's library 

 in the manor of Richmond or elsewhere with an 

 annual rent of 10 out of the customs of the port of 

 Bristol ; the reversion of this office and rent were 

 granted to William Tyldesley in I 534." The library 

 existed in 1607," but no mention of it occurs in the 

 survey of 1649, and it has been suggested that before 

 this date it may have been incorporated with the 

 library at Whitehall. 54 From the reign of Edward IV 

 until that of Charles II there are successive grants of 

 the keepership of the wardrobe to various persons, 

 frequently the grantees of the custody of the manor. 55 



Philip I, King of Castile, was entertained at the 

 palace by Henry VII in 1506," and the Emperor 

 Charles V by Henry VIII in 1522." The story 

 that Eric of Sweden visited Elizabeth at Richmond 58 

 is probably incorrect, for it was the prince's brother 

 John who came over in 1559 to ask her hand for 

 Eric, but another suitor, the Duke d'Alen9on, 59 was 

 one of the queen's guests there. 60 



The park which was attached to the palace is now 

 known as the Old Deer Park. The palace stood south 

 of it, facing the river. A warren is mentioned as 

 appurtenant to the manor in 1292," and in 1455 

 begins the mention of the ' New Park,' probably in 

 contradistinction to an older or smaller park. There 

 are said to have been two parks in the reign of Henry 

 VIII called the ' Great Park ' and the ' Little Park,' 

 and it has been presumed that these two were laid 

 together between 1617 and i649. 61 At the latter 

 date the entire park contained a little over 349 acres, 

 and was then called Richmond Little Park 63 (as after- 

 wards Old Park) to distinguish it, undoubtedly, from 

 the much larger park, now called Richmond Park, 

 which had been inclosed by Charles I. In 1455 

 the custody of the ' New Park ' was in the hands of 

 Thomas Barton, who had received a grant of it for 

 life from Henry VI with wages of zt/. a day and 

 7 acres of meadow lying near Chertsey Bridge for 

 the sustenance of the deer of the park in winter- 

 time. 64 The same grant, together with a mansion 

 standing between the house of the Clerk of the Works 

 and the palace, was made to Edmund Glase for life 

 in 1461, and again in l^.6^. K The park was granted 

 with the manor (q.v.) to Queen Elizabeth Woodville 

 for life in 1466, and she granted the custody of it, 

 during her life, to Robert Ratcliffe in I47I. 66 



*l Land Rev. Misc. Bks. ccxxvi, 166-82. 



48 They now stand in the garden ex- 

 posed to the weather, which may account 

 for the breakage of their arms, shown to 

 be whole in earlier sketches of them. 



49 Dr. Garnett, in Richmond-on-Thamcs, 

 quotes a MS. description of the palace in 

 I $03, and also the parliamentary surrey, 

 mentioned above. See also E. Beresford 

 Chancellor, hist, and Antiq. of Richmond, 



*" Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 4.12. 

 u Chancellor, op. cit. 16. 



" L. and P. Hen. fill, vii, 419 (n). 



" AfSS. of Lord Montagu of Beaulitu, 

 (Hist. MSS. Com.), 74. 



" Chancellor, op. cit. 17. 



"'' Mins. Accts. bdle. 1094, no. 5 (20 

 Edw. IV) ; L. and P. Hen. fill, iv, 6083 



( 2 9) !', 539 ('*) i -A'" f p - c - I552-4. 

 p. 245 ; Cal. S.P. Dam. 1595-7, P- 49 i 

 1 660- 1, p. 140. 



M Holinshed, Chron. (ed. Hooker), 793. 



>7 Hall, Chron. 641. 



48 Brayley, Surr. iii, 63. 



535 



59 Diet. Nat. Biog. vii, 115. 



60 Hiit. MSS. Cam. Ref. xv, App. ii, 



35- 



61 Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. I, m. 50. 

 M Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 4131 



Stow, op. cit. 553 ; Land Rev. Misc. Bks. 

 cxc, fol. 100-2. 



88 Survey of Richmond Manor, 1649. 



M Par!. R. (Rec. Com.), v, 313. 



" Cal. Pat. 1461-7, pp. 124, 274. 



** Mins. Accts. bdle. 1094, no. 5 (20 

 Edw. IV). 



