SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



HAMPTON 



1773, losing greatly in dignity and interest there- 

 by. The old gatehouse, of which several drawings 

 exist, the most accurate being some measured draw- 

 ings by Kent made about forty years before its 

 rebuilding, was of five stories, and much taller than 

 the present building. Instead of a single arch in 

 the middle it had two arches, a large one for car- 

 riages and a small one for foot passengers, opening 

 into the gate hall, and the large arch was in con- 

 sequence not on the centre line of the gatehouse. 

 This affected the oriel window over it, which, 

 being set over the arch, was likewise not in the 

 middle of the elevation. The openwork parapet 

 above flanked by pinnacles has been reproduced in 

 the present gateway, and the octagonal angle tur- 

 rets stand on their old bases. About 1873 a stone 

 vault was added to the gate hall, and the pinnacles 

 of the parapet continued downwards as buttresses, 

 precisely on the line of the parapets of the stone 

 bridge, which, as now restored, 

 butt against them. 



As already noted, the wings at 

 each end of the moat are addi- 

 tions to the original design, but 

 are not of much later date, as the 

 outer wall of the moat, built 

 probably about 1537, is built 

 against them. A staircase leads 

 down into the south-west corner 

 of the moat from the south wing, 

 but there is now no evidence of 

 any sluice for emptying the moat 

 into the Thames, though some- 

 thing of the kind doubtless ex- 

 isted. 



The buildings of the first court 

 are of two stories with embattled 

 parapets, the detail very simple, 

 and the ornament confined to 

 the pinnacles on the parapets 

 and the chimney-stacks. The 

 dark tint of the red brick walls 

 is accentuated by the black point- 

 ing in the joints, an original 

 feature, as may be proved by 

 the entries in the building ac- 

 counts for burnt !iay for colour- 

 ing the pointing of the walls. The windows are 

 for the most part of three lights with uncusped 

 four-centred heads. Their stonework has been 

 very largely renewed, and none of the cut-brick 

 chimney-shafts are old. The gateways are the 

 chief architectural features, being of greater height 

 than the rest of the buildings, and having angle 

 turrets and panels of the royal arms over the 

 archways. They are further distinguished by the 

 large terra-cotta roundels with portraits of Roman 

 Emperors, of which there were originally ten in 

 the palace, made for Wolsey by Giovanni Maiano 

 in 1521. These, with the fine panel of Wolsey's 

 arms over the gateway in the Clock Court, are 

 the only examples of terra-cotta now to be seen 

 at Hampton Court ; but that there must have 

 been more of it originally is clear, both from 

 documentary evidence and from the pieces of archi- 

 tectural detail now kept in the Great Kitchen, 



having been dug up in the Round Kitchen Court 

 not many years since. One very ornamental fea- 

 ture, now almost entirely lost, was the leaden 

 cappings of the turrets ; a good specimen still exists 

 on the garden front of the Clock Court, with 

 finial, crockets, and pinnacled buttresses. Such 

 cappings are called ' types ' in the building accounts. 

 Behind the north range of the first court lie 

 three small irregular courts, the Chamberlain's, 

 the Master Carpenter's, and the Fish Court. 

 Though much repaired, and the least imposing 

 part of the 16th-century palace all being part of 

 Wolsey's work they are extremely picturesque, 

 and at the east of them are the two kitchens, fine 

 and lofty rooms with huge fireplaces, ovens, &c., 

 and the remains of open-timbered roofs. The 

 chimney stacks and stepped copings over the fire- 

 places towards Tennis Court Lane are particularly 

 good specimens of Tudor brickwork, though the 



HAMPTON COURT PALACE : 

 TERRA-COTTA PANEL OF WOLSEY' 



ARMS 



shafts of the chimneys are modern. To the east 

 of the kitchens is the serving-place, a wide passage 

 into which hatches open from the kitchen, and 

 from which the dishes were taken to the north 

 door of the hall, across the long corridor which 

 connects the Round Kitchen Court with the three 

 small courts at the west. The windows of the 

 corridor are glazed, and have ventilating panes of 

 pierced leadwork copied from old specimens. 



The Clock Court, formerly called the Fountain 

 Court, from a fountain set here by Wolsey and 

 altered by Henry VIII, is in some ways the most 

 interesting part of the palace, as giving some idea of 

 the appearance of the destroyed buildings to the 

 east of it, which contained the finest rooms other 

 than the hall and chapel. On the west and south 

 sides the work is Wolsey's, though the latter range 

 is masked by Wren's colonnade ; on the east 

 Wolsey's work, much rebuilt by Henry, has been 



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