Hampton Court, Surrey, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest: 

The 16th century garden and parkland attached to Hampton Court, a royal palace from 1530. Henry VIII and subsequent monarchs enlarged and improved the estate. The pleasure grounds were altered by, among others, William Talman, George London, and Henry Wise.

NOTE

This entry is a summary. Because of the complexity of this site, the standard Register entry format would convey neither an adequate description nor a satisfactory account of the development of the landscape. The user is advised to consult the references given below for more detailed accounts. Many Listed Buildings exist within the site, not all of which have been here referred to. Descriptions of these are to be found in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM SETTING

Hampton Court is located in outer south-west London on the north bank of the River Thames, about 200 metres to the north-east of Hampton Court Bridge (Listed Grade II). The town of Kingston lies about 2.5 kilometres north-east of the Palace buildings. The River Thames provides the boundary to the south and east. To the west and north the grounds are bounded by Hampton Court Road (A309) which to the north separates Hampton Court Park from Bushy Park. The brick walls and railings (Listed Grade II) around the site are of various dates from the 16th century onwards and enclose about 218 hectares of level ground which extends north, east, and south of the Palace of Hampton Court.

REFERENCES used by English Heritage:

Note. There is a wealth of published material about this site. The key references are listed below.

W Keane, The Beauties of Middlesex (1850)

B Cherry and N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 2 South (1983), pp 481-500

M Batey and J Woudstra, The Story of the Privy Garden (1995)

S Thurley (ed), The King's Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace 1689-1995 (1998)

Royal Parks Historical Survey: Hampton Court and Bushy Park (Travers Morgan Planning 1982)

Draft Management Plan, (Land Use Consultants 1995)

[These two studies bring together the historical research and identify all the sources, plans, maps, documents etc.]

Description written: June 1998

Amended: December 1998

Edited: November 2001