Eltham Palace


Eltham Palace is a large house in Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, in south-east London, England. The house consists of the medieval great hall of former royal residence, to which an Art Deco extension was added in the 1930s. The hammerbeam roof of the great hall is the third-largest of its type, and the Art Deco interiors of the house have been critiqued as a "masterpiece of modern design". The palace is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by English Heritage, who took over responsibility for the great hall in 1984 and the rest of the site in 1995.

History (1300–1900)

The original palace was given to Edward II in 1305 by the Bishop of Durham, Anthony Bek, and used as a royal residence from the 14th to the 16th century. According to one account, the incident which inspired Edward III's foundation of the Order of the Garter took place here. As the favourite palace of Henry IV, it played host to Manuel II Palaiologos, the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, from December 1400 to January 1401, with a joust being given in his honour. There is still a jousting tilt yard. Edward IV built the Great Hall in the 1470s, and a young Henry VIII
when he was known as Prince Henry also grew up here; it was here in 1499 that he met and impressed the scholar Erasmus, introduced to him by Thomas More. Erasmus described the occasion:
Tudor courts often used the palace for their Christmas celebrations. With the grand rebuilding of Greenwich Palace, which was more easily reached by river, Eltham was less frequented, save for the hunting in its enclosed parks, easily reached from Greenwich, "as well enjoyed, the Court lying at Greenwiche, as if it were at this house it self". The deer remained plentiful in the Great Park, of, the Little, or Middle Park, of, and the Home Park, or Lee Park, of. In the 1630s, by which time the palace was no longer used by the royal family, Sir Anthony van Dyck was given the use of a suite of rooms as a country retreat. During the English Civil War, the parks were denuded of trees and deer. John Evelyn saw it 22 April 1656: "Went to see his Majesty's house at Eltham; both the palace and chapel in miserable ruins, the noble wood and park destroyed by Rich the rebel". The palace never recovered. Eltham was bestowed by Charles II on John Shaw and in its ruinous condition— reduced to Edward IV's Great Hall, the former buttery, called "Court House", a bridge across the moat and some walling—remained with Shaw's descendants as late as 1893.
The current house was built in the 1930s on the site of the original, and incorporates its Great Hall, which boasts the third-largest hammerbeam roof in England. Fragments of the walls of other buildings remain visible around the gardens, and the 15th-century bridge still crosses the moat.

Eltham Palace Panorama.jpg|The south side of the palace, with the medieval great hall on the left
Joseph Mallord William Turner - Interior of St. John's Palace, Eltham - Google Art Project.jpg|JMW Turner's painting of the great hall 1793
Eltham Palace, April 2018.jpg|The great hall in 2018

Eltham Palace today (1930s–present)

In 1933, Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia "Ginie" Courtauld acquired a 99-year lease on the palace site and commissioned Seely & Paget to restore the hall and create a modern home attached to it. Seely and Paget added a minstrel's gallery and a timber screen to the hall, while creating a design for the main house inspired by Christopher Wren's work at Hampton Court Palace and Trinity College Cambridge.
The home was decorated internally in the Art Deco style. The dramatic Entrance Hall was created by the Swedish designer Rolf Engströmer. Light floods in from a spectacular glazed dome, highlighting blackbean veneer and figurative marquetry. Other rooms in the house, including the dining room, drawing room and Virginia Courtauld's circular bedroom and adjoining bathroom, were the work of the Italian designer Piero Malacrida de Saint-August, while Seely and Paget designed many of the bedrooms. Keen gardeners, the Courtaulds also substantially modified and improved the grounds and gardens.

Eltham Palace - interior, composite view of entrance hall.jpg|The Art Deco entrance hall
Eltham Palace - interior, view of Virginia Courtauld’s bedroom.jpg|Virginia Courtauld's bedroom
Eltham Palace - interior, view of library.jpg|The library
Eltham Palace - interior, view of dining room.jpg|The dining room
Eltham Palace - interior, view of drawing room.jpg|The drawing room

Stephen was a younger brother of Samuel Courtauld, an industrialist, art collector and founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art. His study in the new house features a statuette version of The Sentry, copied from a Manchester war memorial, by Charles Sargeant Jagger, who was - like Stephen - a member of the Artists' Rifles during the First World War.
The Courtaulds' pet lemur, Mah-Jongg, had a special room on the upper floor of the house which had a hatch to the downstairs flower room; he had the run of the house. The Courtaulds remained at Eltham until 1944. During the earlier part of the war, Stephen Courtauld was a member of the local Civil Defence Service. In September 1940 he was on duty on the Great Hall roof as a fire watcher when it was badly damaged by German incendiary bombs. In 1944, the Courtauld family moved to Scotland then to Southern Rhodesia, giving the palace to the Royal Army Educational Corps in March 1945; the Corps remained there until 1992.
In 1995, English Heritage assumed management of the palace, and in 1999, completed major repairs and restorations of the interiors and gardens.
The palace and its garden are open to the public and can be hired for weddings and other functions. Most of the rooms have been restored to resemble their appearance during the Courtaulds' occupation but some have been left as they were when the palace was used by the Educational Corps.
Public transport is available at the nearby Mottingham railway station or Eltham railway station, both a short walk from the palace.

File:Eltham Palace moat.jpg|Moat
File:Eltham Palace garden.jpg|Garden
File:South Bridge Eltham Palace 01.JPG|South Bridge

Filming

Many films and television programmes have been filmed at Eltham Palace, including:
Eltham Palace is listed on English Heritage's list of "most haunted places." The ghost of a former staff member is said to have given tours of the palace when the palace should have been empty.