Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A palace by the river.
An introduction to the setting of Hampton Court Palace, on the River Thames about 12 miles south-west of central London.
On this page
Read the two palaces
Hampton Court is two palaces in one: the red-brick Tudor ranges, chimneys and courtyards of Wolsey and Henry VIII, and the stone and brick Baroque fronts that Christopher Wren built for William III and Mary II.
A guide can give context without turning a place into a backdrop. Walk from Base Court and Clock Court into Fountain Court and notice how the style changes.
Gardens and water
The Long Water canal was dug under Charles II in 1662, the maze was planted in the 1690s and the Privy Garden was replanted in its period style in 1992.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made, repaired and kept. A photograph alone cannot tell you who laid out a garden or the conditions in which the gardeners worked.
A Thames chapter
The palace stands on the River Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and Hampton Court station, opened in 1849, sits just across the bridge.
Look at the meeting of the two: a Tudor palace and a Baroque one, side by side.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the palace’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents the people who care for them.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
