SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



HAMPTON 



The moat remained till the time of William III, 

 and is mentioned as one of the defences when 

 Edward VI and his uncle the Lord Protector 

 caused the palace to be prepared for a siege. 4 

 Traces of the moat are still to be seen on the north 

 side of the palace, and the passage leading to the 

 Wilderness from Tennis Court Lane is known as 

 ' The Moat Lane,' and the portion in front of the 

 main entrance has now been cleared of the earth 

 and rubbish which filled it, and has been restored 

 to its former condition. There are numerous 

 entries in the Chapter House Accounts which show 

 that ' My Lordes garthinges at Hampton Courte ' 

 were laid out on a generous scale. 4 They were on 

 the south side of the Base and Clock Courts, where a 

 little inclosure, known as 

 ' the Pond Garden,' no 

 doubt retains some of the 

 cardinal's style, though it 

 was probably designed in 

 something like its present 

 form after Henry VIII 

 had taken possession.* 



Henry had also a ' Privy 

 Garden ' and a ' Mount 

 Garden," which occupied 

 the site of the present 

 South or Private Gardens, 8 

 but no traces of them 

 remain. There are ac- 

 counts for roses (at \d. the 

 hundred), violets, prim- 

 roses,' gilliver-slips, mynts, 

 and other sweet flowers,' 

 ' rosemary of 3 yeres old,' 

 and Sweet Williams (at 

 3</. the bushel); but the 

 chief decoration of a 

 Tudor garden consisted 

 of anything but flowers.* 4 

 In the walled parterres 

 there were no doubt shel- 

 tered alleys and arbours ; 

 among the items in Wol- 

 sey's accounts is one for 

 ' twix to bind therber,' ' 

 but the embellishments 

 were chiefly carved and 

 painted heraldic ' beasts ' 10 

 in stone or timber, on 

 stone pedestals, and brass 

 sundials, of which there 

 4 Nichols, Lit. Rem. of Ediv. 



were an extraordinary number, though none now 

 remain." The flower beds were edged with 

 wooden rails or trellis-work, painted white and 

 green." The plan adopted for the use of these 

 edgings can be very well seen in the background 

 of the picture, said to be by Holbein, of Henry VIII 

 and his family, in the cloisters of Hampton Court." 

 The Pond Garden is rectangular, surrounded 

 by a low brick wall with stone coping, now sur- 

 mounted by a hedge of trimmed lime trees, and 

 laid out in three terraces following the shape of the 

 garden and rising one above another, with retaining 

 walls and copings, also of stone. On this stone can 

 be seen the holes whereby the posts were fastened 

 which sustained the thirty-eight fantastic beasts." 



HAMPTON COURT PALACE : THE POND GARDEN 



n, 



'Journ.' ii, 235 ; Cal. S.P. Don. 1547- 

 80, p. 23 ; Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 25 ; 

 Act, ofP.C. 1547-5, PP- 33, 337- 



' Chap. Ho. Accts. C. bdle. 5, no. 9, 

 fol. 689, &c. 



6 Law, op. cit. i, 206-7. 



' See drawings by Antonius Wyne- 

 gaarde (1558) in Bodl. Lib. reproduced 

 in Law, op. cit. i, 201. 



8 They were kept private for the use 

 of inhabitants of the palace for some 

 time after the other gardens were 

 opened to the public, but only a small 

 portion is now retained. 



8a Chap. Ho. Accts. bdle. 5. The 

 flower garden properly so-called did not 



become common till the reign of Queen 

 Elizabeth ; Nichols, Ettgl. Pleasure Gar- 

 dens ,105 et seq. 



9 Chap. Ho. Accts. C. bdle. 5, no. 9, 

 tol. 762, &c. 



10 Ibid. One item h for ' makyng 

 and entayllyng of 38 of the Kinges and 

 Quenys Beestes in freeston ... to 

 stand about the ponddes in the pond 

 yard at 261. the pece. . . . Harry 

 Corantt of Kyngston, carver,' seems to 

 have been the chief sculptor, and also 

 painted the devices on the shields or 

 'vanes' carried by these 'beestes.' 

 Another item it for '17 beestes in 

 tymber standing abowght the Mownte 

 in the Kynges new garden' paid to 



'Mych. of Hayles, Kerver'; Chap. 

 Ho. Accts. 



11 No less than sixteen 'brasin 

 dyalls' appear to have been required 

 for the ' Kynges New Garden ' ; ibid. 



18 Ibid. There is an item for paint- 

 ing a great quantity of ' Rayle ' and 

 'posies' in white and green for the 

 ' Kynges New Garden. 1 



18 No. 453 in the State Apartments. 



14 There were harts, lions, unicorns, 

 greyhounds, hinds, dragons, bulls, ante- 

 lopes, griffins, leopards, rams, tigers, 

 and badgers; Parl. Surv. 1653, the 

 measurement of the Pond Garden ii 

 given as 1 20 ft. by 20 ft. 



