DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0117
EARLY TUDOR GARDENS.
95
find no mention of changes being made there. The gardens at
York Place, the Whitehall of later times, had been laid out by
Wolsey with great taste and care, and this place, like Hampton
Court, was also given over to the King.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry VIII., having com-
pleted his alterations at Hampton Court, turned his attention
to laying-out and beautifying the grounds at Nonsuch, near
Ewell, in Surrey.* He purchased the lands of Cuddington, in
1538, and there built a palace :—
“ Which no equal has in art or fame
Britons deservedly do Nonsuche name.”
Another contemporary writer, describing the place, says of
it : “ The Palace itself is so encompassed with parks, full of deer,
delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis work, cabinets
of verdure, and walks so embowered by trees, that it seems
to be a place pitched upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in
along with Health.” t Henry VIII. never quite completed
Nonsuch, but it was held for a time by Henry FitzAlan, Earl
of Arundel, who continued to carry out the King’s designs.
Queen Elizabeth, Anne, Queen of James I., and Henrietta
Maria, all paid visits to the place, but did not stay there for long.
The parliamentary survey of the palace and gardens, made in
1650, shows there were several walled gardens, divided by
thick thorn hedges, also alleys, a wilderness, and privy garden,
and a large kitchen-garden. There was also a terrace in front of
the house, and a “ handsome bowling-green.” The whole was
rather Italian in style, with many fountains and statues.
Charles II. gave the place to the Duchess of Cleveland, who
pulled it down, and the destruction of this once magnificent
palace was completed by her grandson, the Duke of Grafton,
who cut down the trees and destroyed the park.J
* Minister’s Accounts, 31-32 Henry VIII., No. 10. Sir Ralph Sadler,
steward of the manor, received qd a day for the custody of “ Gardinorum,
Pomariorum et ortorum.”
J Nichols, Progress of Queen Elizabeth.
f Camden’s Britannia. Ed. Gough, 1806.
95
find no mention of changes being made there. The gardens at
York Place, the Whitehall of later times, had been laid out by
Wolsey with great taste and care, and this place, like Hampton
Court, was also given over to the King.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry VIII., having com-
pleted his alterations at Hampton Court, turned his attention
to laying-out and beautifying the grounds at Nonsuch, near
Ewell, in Surrey.* He purchased the lands of Cuddington, in
1538, and there built a palace :—
“ Which no equal has in art or fame
Britons deservedly do Nonsuche name.”
Another contemporary writer, describing the place, says of
it : “ The Palace itself is so encompassed with parks, full of deer,
delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis work, cabinets
of verdure, and walks so embowered by trees, that it seems
to be a place pitched upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in
along with Health.” t Henry VIII. never quite completed
Nonsuch, but it was held for a time by Henry FitzAlan, Earl
of Arundel, who continued to carry out the King’s designs.
Queen Elizabeth, Anne, Queen of James I., and Henrietta
Maria, all paid visits to the place, but did not stay there for long.
The parliamentary survey of the palace and gardens, made in
1650, shows there were several walled gardens, divided by
thick thorn hedges, also alleys, a wilderness, and privy garden,
and a large kitchen-garden. There was also a terrace in front of
the house, and a “ handsome bowling-green.” The whole was
rather Italian in style, with many fountains and statues.
Charles II. gave the place to the Duchess of Cleveland, who
pulled it down, and the destruction of this once magnificent
palace was completed by her grandson, the Duke of Grafton,
who cut down the trees and destroyed the park.J
* Minister’s Accounts, 31-32 Henry VIII., No. 10. Sir Ralph Sadler,
steward of the manor, received qd a day for the custody of “ Gardinorum,
Pomariorum et ortorum.”
J Nichols, Progress of Queen Elizabeth.
f Camden’s Britannia. Ed. Gough, 1806.