| HAMPTON
COURT
Although he had palaces all along the river from Greenwich
to Richmond, the estate at Hampton Court, lyrically described
as 'meads forever crown'd with flowers' and 'more like unto
a paradise than any earthly habitation', greatly delighted
Henry VIII. Before Wolsey's downfall he often strolled by
the fishponds and fountains, his arm thrown across the Cardinal's
shoulders. In the first year that he owned Hampton Court
be planted a flower garden, kitchen garden and two orchards.
Walks flanked with gilded heraldic beasts were laid out.
What is now the Privy Garden, running south to the Thames,
was named after Anne Boleyn. The Tudor gardens were, however,
modest compared to those that came later. The semi-circular
Great Fountain Garden, with obelisks of yews, was created
by Charles II, as were the three avenues of limes that radiate
from it. The Long Water canal provided the gardens with
a supply of water - for which centuries of gardeners have
been grateful and which firemen were able to use to save
the palace when a fire threatened to engulf it in 1986.
The square red brick building on the river's edge west of
the Privy Garden is the Banqueting House, built for William
III in 1700. |
