CHAPTER V ELTHAM PALACE

To realize that Eltham was one of the most stately of royal residences one has only to stand within the magnificent hall erected by Edward IV. Though neglected for many years and allowed to fall into decay, it is still a marvellous relic of medieval splendour, at the time when Perpendicular architecture was beautifying the land. The fine oak roof, with its hammer beams and carved pendants, is almost as perfect as when it was first put up, but unfortunately the beautiful tracery of the windows has suffered from being bricked up during the period of neglect. The whole hall, however, has lately undergone a thorough restoration, and the windows have been glazed, so that it is likely to remain for many centuries to come a noble witness of the dignified surroundings of the Plantagenet Kings.

HAMPTON COURT PALACE.

Erected by Cardinal Wolsey and afterwards presented by him to Henry VIII. Sir Christopher Wren
reconstructed a part of the palace for William III. and Queen Mary.

The old stone bridge, with its buttressed arches, built at the same time as the hall, still stands over the moat, which at one time ran all round the palace. Standing on the bridge, across which must have trod Edward IV., its builder, Henry VIII. in his buoyant youth, Cardinal Wolsey in the early days of his greatness, and Queen [pg 25] Elizabeth when visiting the palace to meet her Scottish suitor the Earl of Arran, one looks down to-day upon smooth green water, overshadowed by willows and sycamores, and edged with smooth-shaven grass borders, with a glimpse of a rose-filled garden.

The Banqueting Hall, Eltham Palace.

For Eltham, though only eight miles from London on the Maidstone road, retains much of its rural charm. As one approaches the palace along a tree-shaded avenue between old red-brick walls, one forgets the nearness to the great city and the fact that tram-lines now run up to the quiet little High Street. There is an old-world dignity about the neighbourhood of the palace, locally known as King John's Palace, through some confusion with John of Eltham, the second son of Edward II., who [pg 26] was born there. King John himself never resided in the palace, for it was not a royal house until the reign of his son. Some charming old houses, with red-tiled roofs and overhung upper stories, standing among gardens gay with flowers, border the avenue. It is probable that Wolsey and other Lord Chancellors stayed in these houses when in attendance upon the monarch.

Eltham has never been anything but a small village amid fertile country, so that the problem of feeding the Court when resident in the palace must have been a serious one. Two thousand people to be fed daily must have absorbed the energies of all the farmers round.

In plan the palace was a quadrangular castle protected by a strong battlemented wall, surrounded by a deep moat, with a drawbridge and portcullis. Camden claims that the original palace was built by Anthony Bec, Bishop of Durham, who presented it to Eleanor, the beloved wife of Edward I.

Of its subsequent history one learns that many Kings held their Christmas festivals there, that Richard II. was extremely fond of it, spending much of his time there, that Edward IV. built the hall and bridge, and that Henry VII. also did a good deal of building, and brought up his children within its walls. Henry VIII. spent his early childhood in the palace, being visited by the learned Erasmus and Sir Thomas More. During the first years of his reign he also resided there frequently, until Greenwich rose in his royal favour. It was at Eltham that Wolsey received the office of Lord Chancellor, and also where he drew up, in 1526, the famous Eltham Ordinances for the regulation of the royal household. One finds from these ordinances that the King's guests were in the habit of stealing locks, tables, [pg 27] and other household articles, for strict rules were made concerning these fixtures, and also against the keeping of any dogs, except ladies' spaniels, within the precincts of the Court.

James I. was the last monarch to reside within the palace, his son, Charles I., bestowing it upon Sir John Shaw, who pulled down all the buildings, with the exception of the great hall. When John Evelyn visited it in 1656, he found the whole place in ruins, but in 1828 the Government was persuaded to undertake repairs in order to preserve this beautiful remnant of fifteenth-century architecture.