Comments on: Nonsuch Tudor Palace Garden in Ewell, Surrey

By: Mike Sparey

Mike Sparey — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 02:36:16 +0000

Does any one know if there are any records regarding staff at Nonesuch Palace, I am interested mainly in the gardeners, any help would be much appreciated

thanks
Mike

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 02:37:15 +0000

Sorry you are right the correct date for the engraving is 1598. Perhaps this 1937 footage of the ancient cities of Southern France is helpful for judging the accuracy of the descriptions and pictorial respresentations? [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkeI70WMArg ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:23:45 +0000

I know the picture but I had no idea that it was by Braun and Hogenberg. Their images are wonderful but sometimes accurate and sometimes largely imaginary. It is hard to tell which category the Nonsuch image falls into. The palace is carefully drawn and the written description is good. But the countryside looks too hilly and could be an invention, though the field pattern looks realistic. This was a period when landlords were trying to enclose the ancient openfield landscape and the famous Star Chamber was set up to protect the rights of the decling medieval peasantry. The figures in the drawing are more gentry-like than peasant-like.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 06:54:31 +0000

The woodcut of Nonsuch Palace suggests a world a little different to the contemporary rural arcadia? [ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Woodcut_of_Nonsuch_Palace.jpg ]

Here is a description of an engraving of Nonsuch Palace in 1582. [ http://www.sanderusmaps.com/antique-maps/europe/london–nonsuch-palace_21379.cfm ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 06:50:24 +0000

The Mansion at Nonsuch (see photo at http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/nonsuch_palace) was built in 1731 and survives with, as you say, an artificial garden. The site of the fabled Tudor Palace (shown in the photo above) is about 1km west of the Mansion and the only survival (about another 0.5km west) is the bastion-like foundations of the Banqueting House.

By: Poppy

Poppy — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:25:20 +0000

I went there again yesterday and cycle most of the paths.It was not busy there ,but it was a wonderful place to recreate.I checked some trees and there grow well, then I took a seat in front of the place masion. The garden is very artificial,not very harmonize with surrounding.But it seems that they are all well enough. So, I am interested what made you think ” Little survives”?:-)

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:21:04 +0000

Perhaps Anglo Saxon England also had an impact on the Christianisation of Scandinavia?
[ http://ir.nul.nagoya-u.ac.jp/jspui/bitstream/2237/13998/1/%E2%91%AB.pdf ]

The map of London in 1553 suggests a semi-rural environment around Busshopes Gate.
[ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genmaps/genfiles/COU_files/ENG/LON/london1553_.htm ]

Perhaps the South entrance to St Helen’s Church has some clues?
[ http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/06/42/south-entrance-to-st-helens-church-bishopsgate-london-62727.jpg ] and [ http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/pointsofview/2010/03/london-1870s-and-now-18-great-st-helens-bishopsgate.html ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:10:05 +0000

The Elephant and Castle area must have been settled in Celtic and Romano-British times but the Danes, no doubt, left their mark.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:59:22 +0000

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Elephant ]
I wonder whether Elephant and Castle was first settled under the Danelaw?
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Boroughs_of_the_Danelaw ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:20:35 +0000

The life expectancy of medieval peasants was 30 years and even kings and queens had a rough time (Elizabeth I’s teeth were black from eating too much sugar) – so a bit of suffering should be part of the experience in visiting Nonsuch!