Hunsdon House

Edit links
Coordinates: 51°47′43″N 0°03′23″E / 51.79536°N 0.056364°E / 51.79536; 0.056364
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the country house. For the town house, see
Hunsdon House, Blackfriars
.
Hunsdon House, as seen from the adjacent churchyard. (West end of main house is on the right; service building on the left.)

Hunsdon House is a historic

Henry VIII of England. It has been rebuilt several times since then, and is no longer as grand as it was in the Tudor era. It is a Grade I listed building. [1]

Early history

It was originally constructed of

Henry VIII gave it to Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk in 1514.[2] Howard's son reduced the height of the tower for safety reasons in 1524.[4]

Tudor era

Portrait of Edward VI, with Hunsdon House in the background

When Henry VIII retook possession in 1525 after Thomas Howard's death, he set about expanding the house into a palatial estate in the

Elizabeth I made her cousin Henry Carey the first Baron Hunsdon, after granting the house to him in 1559.[5]

Recent centuries

A drawing of Hunsdon House from 1818 by artist John Preston Neale. Held by the British Library.

The manor stayed in the Carey family for over 100 years, after which it passed to the Bluck family and then the Calvert family.[2] Much of Henry VIII's expansions were torn down in the early 17th century, and the moat was filled some time in the 18th century.[6] The house was rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century, but 1860 renovations by Nicolson Calvert changed much of the architecture to an Elizabethan style.[2][7] One last renovation in 1983 revealed some of the 15th-century brickwork. The current house is less than a quarter of its size under Henry VIII.[4]

Today the building is Grade I listed , privately owned and not open to the public. It is possible to view the exterior from public footpaths when walking the area. [8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Historic England. "Hunsdon House (1347687)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Thorne, James (1876). Handbook to the Environs of London. J. Murray. pp. 373–74. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  3. ISBN 9780521581325
    . Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Ford, Michael (1999). "Hunsdon: Henry VIII's Great Tudor House". Historic Hertfordshire. Britannia.com. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  5. ^ a b Thompson, Glen. "Village History". Hunsdon Parish Council. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  6. ^ a b Neale, John Preston; Moule, Thomas (1822). Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Sherwood, Jones and Co. p. 86. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  7. ISBN 9780954218997
    . Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  8. ^ Cunningham, Alice (2020-07-07). "The little-known Hertfordshire manor house once owned by Henry VIII". HertsLive. Retrieved 2020-07-08.

51°47′43″N 0°03′23″E / 51.79536°N 0.056364°E / 51.79536; 0.056364

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hunsdon_House&oldid=1154651704"