HAMPTON COURT PALACE FROM THE RIVER

Septimus and Clara Miller visited Hampton Court Palace sometime in 1906. I have already suggested that they might have arrived at the Palace by train because there is a railway station quite close to the position where this photo is taken on the southern bank of the river Thames.

The card is focusing on the position of the Palace and suggesting an alternative route that the Miller’s might have taken to Hampton Court Palace?

A river boat might have taken them on the Royal Barge Route from Westminster pier near Big Ben. It would have followed the same route taken by the Royal Barge 500 years ago when Henry VIII would journey to his famous palace: a scenic and leisurely three and a half hour cruise upriver, through the locks at Richmond and Teddington, away from the bustle of London.

People have lived on this site for thousands of years; the land is fertile. The Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem (known since 1530 as the Knights of Malta used the site as a grange (a centre for their agricultural estate where food was kept).

In 1514, the Knights granted a 99-year lease on the land to the Archbishop of York, Thomas Wolsey. The Cardinal built there a brand new palace in the European style. When Wolsey left in 1529, the palace (and the lease) was taken over by Henry VIII, who spent over £62,000 rebuilding and extending Hampton Court Palace up to his death in 1547.

Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to Henry’s only legitimate son, Prince Edward, at the palace. Henry was to marry his sixth and last wife, Kateryn Parr, at Hampton Court too.

Just 14 miles from central London.

But if you look even more carefully you can see a faster form of transport on the other side of the river!

This is a PC from the Wellington Series published by Gale and Polden Ltd., London, Aldershot and Portsmouth, numbered 12530.