Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/715

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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).

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