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.
[Illustration: 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
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.
[Illustration: 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 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, 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.