PARKS
Hampton Court Palace: The Lion Gates
Wolsey inclosed with a wall about
2,000 acres as a park for his house. (fn. 79)
Henry VIII had a large rabbit or
hare warren in the park, where he also reared
pheasants and partridges. (fn. 80) This domain was
then as now divided into two parts by the Kingston road. These divisions are at present known
simply as Bushey Park and the Home Park, Bushey
lying to the north and the Home Park to the
south-east of the palace. Henry had further inclosures made, taking in part of the heath near
Hampton, and divided the north park into three
parts, i.e. the Hare Warren to the east, the Upper
(or Bushey) Park to the extreme west, and the
Middle Park in the centre. The Home Park
contained only the 'Course' near the Kingston
road and the Home Park itself, with the river on
the south. (fn. 81) At the time of the Commonwealth
some of the parks were sold apart from the house,
and the 'fee of the honour and manor,' in which
the Home Park and the Course were included.
Bushey Park was sold to Edward Blackwell, and
the Middle Park, 'called Jockey's Park,' to
Colonel Richard Norton, (fn. 82) but they were repurchased with the palace for Cromwell in 1653-4. (fn. 83)
In the inventory of Cromwell's goods made in
1659 it is mentioned that there were about 700
deer in the Home Park, in Bushey Park 1,700,
and about thirty red deer. (fn. 84) In the paddocks and
stables on both sides of the Kingston road the
royal stud was kept for many years. It was started
by William III, who was fond of racing, and
continued by Queen Anne, who ran horses in her
own name. (fn. 85) The stud was maintained by the
first three Georges, (fn. 86) but George IV was the real
founder of the afterwards famous Hampton Court
Stud. (fn. 87) In 1812 he established a stud for riding
horses of good strain, intending that they should
all be grey; but in 1820, when he came to the
Throne, they were all sent to Tattersall's. The
Duke of York then kept a stud for breeding racehorses at the paddocks until 1827, Moses, the Derby
winner of 1822, being the most famous horse. (fn. 88)
George IV then began breeding his own racehorses at Hampton Court, and spent considerable
sums of money on his stud. He had thirty-three
brood mares there, and some famous stallions.
William IV endeavoured to improve and keep up
the stock, (fn. 89) but he knew very little about horses,
and a story is told that when Edwards his trainer
asked what horses were to go to Goodwood, the
king said 'Take the whole fleet; some of them
will win, I suppose.' Three of his horses started
for the Goodwood Cup on 11 August 1830, and
came in first, second, and third in the race, (fn. 90) there
being six other starters. On the death of William
IV in 1837, the entire stud was sold for 15,692
guineas. (fn. 91)
General, then Colonel, Peel and Mr. Charles
Greville were then allowed to keep a breeding stud
in the paddocks. General Peel sold his stock in
1844, and Mr. Greville remained in possession,
after 1851 conjointly with Queen Victoria. Her
Majesty's first managers were Major Groves and
Mr. Lewis. The royal stud was afterwards under
the skilful and successful management of Colonel
Sir George Maude, K.C.B., Crown Equerry, and
became famous and lucrative. Large sums were
realized from very early days by the sale of yearlings. In the reign of George IV and William IV
they were generally sold at Tattersall's on the
Monday in Epsom week for sums varying from
£150 to £200 apiece. (fn. 92) The sale afterwards took
place on Saturday in the week after Ascot in one
of the Bushey Park paddocks, and the highest
prices reached were in 1889 and 1890. In 1889
twenty-eight yearlings were sold for 11,745 guineas,
an average of 420 guineas apiece. In 1890
twenty yearlings fetched over 14,000 guineas, an
average of 700 guineas each. The famous La
Flèche was sold to Lord Marcus Beresford for
5,500 guineas at this sale.
The racing stud was eventually sold in 1894,
and there now only remains a small establishment
for carriage horses and the famous cream-coloured
ponies which draw the king's state coach. They
are descended from horses brought over by George I
from Hanover, and the breed has been carefully
preserved. They are showy and powerful animals;
and some of them have lived to a great age. (fn. 93)
The STUD HOUSE in the Home Park was
originally the official residence of the Master of
the Horse. It was at one time granted to
Mrs. Keppel, the illegitimate daughter of Sir
Edward Walpole, and widow of the Hon. and
Rev. Frederick Keppel, fourth son of the second
Earl of Albemarle, Dean of Windsor and Bishop of
Exeter. (fn. 93a) Afterwards it was held by the Master
of the Horse, or Master of the Buckhounds, of the
period. From 1853 to 1865 it was granted to
Lord Breadalbane, K.T., Lord Chamberlain, and in
1865 to Col. Sir George Ashley Maude, K.C.B.,
Crown Equerry. He died in May 1894, and the
house was given to Colonel Sir Alfred Mordaunt
Egerton, K.C.V.O., C.B., Treasurer to the Household and Equerry to the Duke of Connaught, who
relinquished it in 1907, and it is now held by
Lady Sarah Wilson, daughter of the seventh Duke
of Marlborough, and wife of Major G. C. Wilson,
Royal Horse Guards. Besides this house there are
only cottages and keepers' lodges in the Park.
Henry Wise laid out BUSHEY PARK in its present form, making the great central road through the
park, which is a mile long and 60 ft. wide. Near
the Hampton Court gate it forms a circle, round
the great 'Diana' fountain, 400 ft. in diameter,
and only 5 ft. in depth. The fountain itself was
removed from the 'Privy Garden' in 1712-13,
and was mentioned by Evelyn as being designed
by Fanelli. In the inventory of Cromwell's goods
made in 1659 the statue is said to be of
Arethusa. (fn. 93b)
The great avenue of horse chestnuts, flanked
by four rows of lime trees, borders this main
road through the park, and there are two other
avenues, each originally about three-quarters of
a mile long, one leading towards the paddocks
and the Kingston road and one to Hampton.
The number of trees planted was 732 limes and
274 chestnuts. The whole cost only £4,300. (fn. 94)
The idea of this magnificent avenue was of course
that it should form part of the grand north
approach to the palace designed, but never carried
out, by Wren. (fn. 95) Fishponds and decoys were also
made in the park, and Luttrell says that the deer
were to be removed for the sake of the hare warren
and pheasantry. (fn. 96)
The house now know as BUSHEY HOUSE,
on the west side of the park, behind the chestnut
avenue, near the Teddington Gate, was originally
known as the 'Upper Lodge' and was rebuilt in
the reign of Charles II by Edward Progers. (fn. 97) The
existing house was built in the reign of George II
by Lord Halifax. The Rangers of the park appear
to have inhabited, or at all events had possession
of, this house. William IV, then Duke of Clarence,
was appointed Ranger in 1797, and lived almost
entirely at Bushey House until his accession to
the throne. He amused himself by looking after
a farm he had made in the park and took a leading
part in all the interests and amusements of the
neighbourhood. Queen Adelaide was granted the
house after his death in 1837, and lived there
quietly till she herself died in 1849. One of
the rare visits paid by the late Queen Victoria to
Hampton Court was in 1844, when she and the
Prince Consort, the King and Queen of the French,
the King and Queen of the Belgians, the King of
Holland and others were entertained by Queen
Adelaide. Bushey House was afterwards lent by
Queen Victoria to the late Duc de Nemours. It
is now the National Physical Laboratory, and is
occupied by the Director, Mr. R. T. Glazebrook,
D.Sc., F.R.S.
There is another house in the park known as
CHARLES THE SECOND'S LODGE, at present
occupied by Lady Alfred Paget, widow of the
late General Lord Alfred Paget, second son of
the first Marquis of Anglesey, Equerry and Clerk
Marshal of the Royal Household, who originally
had the house granted to him. He died in 1888.
The one or two smaller houses in the park are
keepers' lodges of a later date.
THE CHAPEL ROYAL.
In Wolsey's lease
of the manor of Hampton Court a stipulation was
made for a yearly sum to be paid by the Knights
Hospitallers for the maintenance of a priest to
serve the chapel. (fn. 1) When the manor became royal
property the chapel was served by the 'Chapel
Royal,' or 'King's Chapel' establishment, which
has no existence as a corporate body, resembling
the dean and chapter of a cathedral, but has
existed according to its present constitution for a
considerable period before the Reformation. (fn. 2) The
'Establishment of the King's Chapel' in the time
of Henry VIII consisted of a Master of the Chapel,
thirty-two Gentlemen of the Chapel, and Children
of the Chapel. The total expenses of the same
being £424 13s. 4d. per annum. In the time of
Edward VI the allowances and fees amounted to
£476 15s. 5d. (fn. 3)
At the Coronation of James I the following
officers are mentioned besides the Dean and SubDean of the Chapel Royal: (fn. 4) the Ministers, the
Master of the Children, Clerk of the Check, Doctor
in Musicke, Gentlemen of the Chapel, Officers of
the Vestry. At the coronation of Charles II the same
are enumerated with the addition of grooms and
yeomen and a Serjeant of the Vestry.
James II added a 'Confessor' and a 'common
servant.' At the coronation of William and Mary
two Organists and a 'Bellringer for the Household' are also mentioned. (fn. 5)
Strictly speaking, this establishment belongs
to no fixed place, but is commanded to attend the
sovereign wherever he may be. The services of
the officers were required chiefly in London, formerly at Whitehall, and afterwards at what is now
considered their head quarters, the Chapel Royal,
St. James's, (fn. 6) but also at Greenwich, Hampton
Court, and other royal residences.
In 1671 a petition was made to Charles II by
a Doctor Thomas Waldon, physician, John Jones,
apothecary to the household, and Captain Henry
Cooke, master of the children of the Chapel
Royal, 'that the Surveyor might provide lodgings
for them when His Majesty removed to Hampton
Court, as those they had were so decayed that
they had to be pulled down.' (fn. 7) The Bishop of
London is Dean of the 'Chapels Royal,' (fn. 8) and
in 1699-70 asked for necessaries for the chapel
from the Lord Chamberlain. (fn. 9)
At present the Chapel within St. James's
Palace with the minor chapels within Hampton
Court and Kensington Palaces constitute what are
usually termed 'The Chapels Royal,' governed by
the Dean, the Sub-Dean, and the Clerk of the
King's Closet (the Bishop of Ripon), and there
are various Chaplains, Preachers, Readers and other
officers attached to them. (fn. 10) The Chapel Royal,
Hampton Court, is served by a chaplain. The
first chaplain appointed to Hampton Court as a
separate office was the Rev. Gerald Valerian
Wellesley, D.D., the brother of the first Duke of
Wellington. He was appointed in 1806.
The plate is of silver gilt, and consists of a cup
with paten and an almsdish 2 ft. in diameter, all of
1668; two flagons of 1687 with silver gilt linings
of 1873 and 1874, all having the arms of William
and Mary and the royal cipher; a dish of 1736
with the arms of George II; two cups of early 19th
century unmarked; a spoon of 1850, and a white
metal almsdish.