A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



gate-tower the clock-tower corresponding to it 

 on the east. On the east side of the second or clock 

 court is a third gateway, and the centre line of the 

 building passed through a fourth gateway on the 

 east front of the palace. The approach to the palace 

 being from the west, this front is more regular than 

 the rest, being flanked on the north and south by 

 projecting blocks of building, which are, however, 

 additions to the original design, and not of equal 

 size, bearing only a superficial resemblance to each 

 other. The apportionment of the various parts of 

 the building followed that of other great houses 

 of the time, the outer court being devoted to 

 lodgings for guests, long rows of chambers opening 

 to corridors running along the inner side of each 

 wing ; while the second court contained the 

 principal sets of rooms, with the great hall on the 

 north side, adjoined on the east by the great cham- 

 ber, and on the north and west by the kitchens and 

 domestic offices. The chapel stands to the east of 

 the great chamber, separated from it by a small 

 court, and approached by galleries. 



The whole of the buildings are of brick, generally 

 of a deep red colour, but by no means uniform in 

 tint, and the wall-surfaces are varied by the inser- 

 tion of black bricks set in a lattice pattern, often 

 very irregular, and sometimes without any definite 

 design. The string-courses, plinths and copings, 

 and the masonry of doorways and windows, are of 

 stone, for the most part called Reigate stone in 

 the original building accounts, but Caen stone 

 and Barnet stone are also mentioned. The bricks 

 appear to have been made on the spot in vast 

 quantities, and many references to them occur. 

 A long series of the building accounts has been 

 preserved, the earliest dating from 1514, but 

 unfortunately there are many gaps in them between 

 that year and 1529. After this date they are 

 fairly complete up to 1540.' On one point of 

 great interest they do not, however, give much 

 information, that is, who occupied the position of 

 architect or designer of the work. Certain over- 

 seers are mentioned, as James Bettes, ' master of 

 the works ' ; Master Lawrence Stubbes, paymaster 

 in 1515-16; and Mr. Henry Williams, priest, 

 ' surveyor of the works,' the last-named probably 

 more nearly fulfilling the duties of a modern archi- 

 tect than the others ; but in no case is it clear 

 that the actual designing was done by any of these. 

 In 1536-7 one Mr. Lubbyns is mentioned as 

 being paid 3 6s. 8d. as a half-year's wages, side 

 by side with an entry for ' paper Riall for plattes ' 

 for his use ; from which it would appear that he 

 certainly set out details of the work if he did not 

 design them. 



It is clear that from the first the work was 

 pushed on with great energy. In I 5 14 there is 

 mention of the chapel and gallery, and in 1515 of 

 the great chamber, the king's dining chamber, the 

 new lodging without the gate, &c. ; and by 1516 

 the buildings were so far advanced that Wolsey 

 could entertain the king at Hampton Court. 

 Labourers were collected from distant parts of the 



country, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire being 

 mentioned ; and in the accounts for 1514 is a 

 payment ' for the statutes of the last parliament 

 bought, forasmuch as in them were comprised the 

 statute of labourers and artificers,' much as anyone 

 proposing to build at the present day might arm 

 himself with a copy of the London Building Act. 



The absence of the greater part of the building 

 accounts during the years when Wolsey was in 

 possession makes it impossible to determine the 

 order in which the various parts of his palace were 

 set up, but it is reasonable to suppose that the 

 principal buildings, the hall, chapel, great chamber, 

 &c., would be undertaken first. Henry added to 

 and rebuilt a certain amount of the cardinal's 

 work, but his additions were for the most part at 

 the south-east, on the ground now occupied by 

 Wren's buildings ; and it seems probable that 

 when Wolsey finally left Hampton Court in 1529 

 its area was little less than it is at the present day. 

 The outer or base court as it now stands, a good 

 part of the Clock Court, the range of kitchens and 

 offices on the north, including the Lord Chamber- 

 lain's Court, the Master Carpenter's Court, the 

 Fish Court, &c., together with parts of the chapel 

 and perhaps some of the range to the north of the 

 Chapel Court, all seem to be in the main of his 

 time. His Great Hall, though no doubt a fine 

 building, was evidently not fine enough for the 

 king, who pulled it down in 1530 and finished the 

 splendid hall which now exists about 1535. At 

 the same time Henry seems to have remodelled, 

 and partly rebuilt, the fine range of rooms to the 

 east of the hall and the eastern range of the Clock 

 Court, and in 1535-6 he refitted the chapel, 

 adding the organ chamber on the south, but 

 apparently not rebuilding the chapel nor making 

 any important structural alteration. It is, indeed, 

 called in one place of the accounts the King's New 

 Chapel, but this does not necessarily imply a re- 

 building ; and in the entry relating to the enormous 

 sum of .451 spent on the wooden vault and the 

 royal ' holyday closettes,' the heading is for 

 ' payntyng, gyltyng, and varnesshyng of the vought,' 

 and the making of pendants and other details. 



The tennis court the ' close tennys play ' of 

 the accounts and a 'close bowling alley,' at the 

 north-east of the palace, were among the first 

 additions made by the king in 1529, and he also 

 lost no time in adding new kitchens and offices, 

 being evidently no more content with the cardinal's 

 kitchens than with his Great Hall. 



Of Henry's immediate successors neither Ed- 

 ward VI nor Mary has left any mark on the 

 palace, and Elizabeth is only commemorated by a 

 little work on the south front, close to the south- 

 west angle of Wren's building, where a bay win- 

 dow bears her initials and the date 1568, and by 

 another panel on the east side of the entrance 

 gateway of the first court. Inigo Jones was 

 appointed surveyor of Hampton Court, among 

 other places, in 1615 ; and though there is no 

 record of anything done about this time to the 



1 In the P.R.O. ; Chap. House 

 Accts. New Misc. Bks. E*ch. T.R. no. 



135-4.6. They are folios of about five 

 hundred pages each, beautifully written, 



372 



and giving most minute details of the 

 work. 



