The oldest building in Greenwich?
I went on one of those organised historical walks several years ago which was frankly a bit weird on the whole - run by one rather quiet sane person and one very eccentric character who dominated the experience - but I did take one thing away from it. A thing, in fact, that I have been unable to corroborate since, but which I throw out to the ether now in the hope that someone a bit more historically accurate can fill me in on - let's face it - any of the details.
We were walking through the park just behind Park Vista, and pointed out part of a building - a cube-like building, with a little pyramidical roof squashed in between some more modern structures - and probably now part of one big (almost certainly splendid) house. You can only see the top bit but it's clearly Tudor-looking brick and the bit on the ground floor much older than the walls adjacent to it.
I was told on this walk that this was the only existing part of the old palace of Placentia , and that it is the old cover for the water supply that runs through the tunnels in the park. It sort of makes sense - after all, it would have been worth building a good cover for the palace water supply to prevent would-be poisoners - but I'm not sure I buy that it's that old. I didn't think that any of Placentia still existed and I also thought that the water tunnels were younger than that.
Of course it's still possible that this is the oldest building in Greenwich town. There are some old buildings here - but nothing very old - you need to go to Charlton to see Elizabethan stuff, for example, and Eltham for Tudor.
Am I wrong? IS there an older building in Greenwich? In this particular case I truly hope I've got the wrong end of the stick...
Enlighten me, please!
We were walking through the park just behind Park Vista, and pointed out part of a building - a cube-like building, with a little pyramidical roof squashed in between some more modern structures - and probably now part of one big (almost certainly splendid) house. You can only see the top bit but it's clearly Tudor-looking brick and the bit on the ground floor much older than the walls adjacent to it.
I was told on this walk that this was the only existing part of the old palace of Placentia , and that it is the old cover for the water supply that runs through the tunnels in the park. It sort of makes sense - after all, it would have been worth building a good cover for the palace water supply to prevent would-be poisoners - but I'm not sure I buy that it's that old. I didn't think that any of Placentia still existed and I also thought that the water tunnels were younger than that.
Of course it's still possible that this is the oldest building in Greenwich town. There are some old buildings here - but nothing very old - you need to go to Charlton to see Elizabethan stuff, for example, and Eltham for Tudor.
Am I wrong? IS there an older building in Greenwich? In this particular case I truly hope I've got the wrong end of the stick...
Enlighten me, please!
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
09:25
8 Comments:
I know bits of the wall that runs along Park Vista are part of Placentia (childish, I know, but I can't type that without thinking of a bit of womb). We were in the Dwarf Orchard last week picking blackberries and the volunteer there said the gargoyle-type thing opposite the houses in Park Vista is from the palace. Is that building you mention part of the St Alfege's vicarage? Chris who lives there is lovely, and I'm sure he'd enlighten you...
I don't think it is the vicarage - but the owner could probably tell me if I pluck up enough courage - I'm quite a shy pahntom, really...
I think you are talking about The Chantry, its a bit like a tardis, doesnt look very big from the outside but goes on an on inside. It was owned by a really lovely couple called Joan and Arthur, sadly Arthur died about 6 years ago and Joan went slowly downhill, she went into a home about 18 months ago. Arthur told me that parts of the house were Tudor, that Henry VIIIs son was nursed in one of the back bedrooms, also that there was a tunnel from the palace of Placentia to the Chantry (since filled in). The house has a wonderful stone spiral staircase (a tad dangerous if you had been having a tipple with Joan) I have also been told that the house had something to do with the water supply for the palace, which I believe was on the site of the Naval College, but I may be wrong there. Strangely there is very little history, that I can find, on this wonderful house. It was sold last year and during my walks in the park you can see that there is work being done on it at the moment. I do remember there being a plaque in the flag stone garden that was Tudor.
Forgot to say, in your photograph you are only showing half of the house - to the left you can just see the corner of the parapet of the terrace which is outside the master bedroom
Henry VII's chapel found at Greenwich
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:19am GMT 25/01/2006
As muddy holes go, they don't get much more romantic. Beneath four feet of heavy south London clay, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of Henry VII's lost chapel at Greenwich.
The site is where he and a host of his Tudor successors - Henry VIII, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I - worshipped.
Click to enlarge
The existence of the chapel, part of the Royal Palace of Placentia, a Tudor favourite but pulled down in the 17th century to be replaced by Greenwich Hospital - now the Old Naval College - has long been known from paintings and records.
But until a bulldozer's bucket scraped against brickwork a month ago, no physical evidence of the chapel had ever been discovered.
Careful scratching away by a team of four archaeologists from the Museum of London has revealed the eastern walls of the chapel, a 10ft by 5ft section of floor made from black and white glazed tiles laid geometrically, and, beneath, a so-far unexplored vault.
The floor, at the eastern end of the chapel, almost certainly supported the altar before which the Tudor monarchs would have prayed.
advertisementThe archaeologists may also have unearthed the spot where Henry VIII stood during his marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves.
Both weddings took place in the Palace of Placentia - which means pleasant place to live - but records do not show whether they were in the chapel itself or, more probably as some historians believe, in a private room or closet in his quarters overlooking the chapel.
To the east of the chapel, more works have unearthed the foundations and fireplaces of its vestry.
"This is an astonishing survival," declared Simon Thurley, the chief executive of English Heritage and author of a study of Tudor palaces.
"For the first time ever we can see close up and in detail the east end of a Tudor royal chapel. Unlike Hampton Court and St James's Palace, where the chapels have been altered, here we can see what Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth would have seen. These have the potential to throw fresh light on the inner workings of the Tudor court."
The historian Dr David Starkey was equally enthusiastic. He said: "This gives us a real sense of the absolute heart of the palace.
"When Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves in the first-floor closet, what he saw through the window was the tiled floor and altar that have now been revealed."
Julian Bowsher, the Museum of London's senior archaeologist, said: "This is the most important find I've made in the past 10 years."
Placentia is the least known of London's Tudor palaces. Formerly a manor called Bellacourt, it passed to Henry VI who named it L'Pleazaunce or Placentia because of its agreeable situation.
It was the favourite residence of Henry VIII during the first half of his reign, and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth were born there.
...and can you believe they covered it up and built a car park on top of it?
what's the dwarf orchard that kratch refers to?
It's a funny little strip of land running along Park Vista. It's just come back into the hands of the Park, I belive. I'll be writing about it soon...
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