Eltham Palace is a large house at

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

( ) in

southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, within the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. The house consists of the medieval great hall of a former

royal residence A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whic ...

, to which an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

extension was added in the 1930s. The hammerbeam roof of the great hall is the third-largest of its type in England, and the Art Deco interior of the house has been described as a "masterpiece of modern design". The house is owned by the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priv ...

and managed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, which took over responsibility for the great hall in 1984 and the rest of the site in 1995.

History

1300–1930

The original palace was given to Edward II in 1305 by the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

, Anthony Bek, and used as a

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 Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the n ...

, the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, from December 1400 to mid-February 1401, with a

joust Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponen ...

being given in his honour. There is still a jousting

tilt yard A tiltyard (or tilt yard or tilt-yard) was an enclosed courtyard for jousting. Tiltyards were a common feature of Tudor era castles and palaces. The Horse Guards Parade in London was formerly the tiltyard constructed by Henry VIII as an entertainm ...

. The 1401 Eltham tournament was described or commemorated in literary form as thirteen letters, in old French, addressed to Henry's daughter

Blanche of England Blanche of England, LG (spring 1392 – 22 May 1409), also known as Blanche of Lancaster, was a member of the House of Lancaster, the daughter of King Henry IV of England by his first wife Mary de Bohun. Family Born at Peterborough Castle ...

. Each letter, purportedly written by a legendary patron, praises one of the combatants. Two of them, William Bardolf and John Clinton, are identified by their heraldry. The letters were probably read aloud during the event. Edward IV built the Great Hall in the 1470s, and the future Henry VIII grew up here; it was here in 1499 that he met and impressed the scholar

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

, introduced to him by

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

. Erasmus described the occasion: Tudor courts often used the palace for their Christmas celebrations. With the grand rebuilding of

Greenwich Palace Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, 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 .Thornbury and Walford 1893:239. The courtier Roger Aston was keeper of the little park at Eltham in 1610 and built four bridges for the convenience of

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

. 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 English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, the parks were denuded of trees and deer.

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or ...

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 (4).jpg, The great hall in 2018

1930–present

In 1933, Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia "Ginie" Courtauld (née Peirano) acquired a 99-year lease on the palace site and commissioned

Seely & Paget Seely & Paget was the architectural partnership of John Seely, 2nd Baron Mottistone (1899–1963) and Paul Edward Paget (1901–1985). Their work included the construction of Eltham Palace in the Art Deco style, and the post-World War II restora ...

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 Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. The home was decorated internally in the

style. The entrance hall was created by Swedish designer Rolf Engströmer; light floods in from a 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 The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

. His study in the new house features a statuette version of ''The Sentry'', copied from a Manchester war memorial, by

Charles Sargeant Jagger Charles Sargeant Jagger (17 December 1885 – 16 November 1934) was a British sculptor who, following active service in the First World War, sculpted many works on the theme of war. He is best known for his war memorials, especially the Royal ...

, who was - like Stephen - a member of the Artists' Rifles during the First World War. The Courtaulds' pet

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...

, 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 The Civil Defence Service was a civilian volunteer organisation in Great Britain during World War II. Established by the Home Office in 1935 as Air Raid Precautions (ARP), its name was officially changed to the Civil Defence Service (CD) in 1941. ...

. 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 (now Zimbabwe), giving the palace to the

Royal Army Educational Corps The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant Gen ...

in March 1945; the corps then moved all its administration to Eltham Palace in 1948. Following the formation of the Educational and Training Services Branch of the new

Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peo ...

, staff moved to

Worthy Down Camp Worthy Down Camp is a tri-service establishment near Winchester, in Hampshire, England. It forms part of the wider Winchester Garrison and houses the headquarters of the Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration (DCLPA), as well ...

in 1992. In 1995,

assumed management of the palace, and in 1999, completed major repairs and restorations of the interiors and gardens. 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: *''

High Heels and Low Lifes ''High Heels and Low Lifes'' is a 2001 action comedy-drama film starring Minnie Driver, Mary McCormack, Kevin McNally, Mark Williams, Danny Dyer and Michael Gambon. It was directed by Mel Smith and written by Kim Fuller and Georgia Pritchett. ...

'' (2001) *'' The Gathering Storm'' (2002) *''

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemianism, Bohemian young Aristocracy (class), aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw flamboyant costume party, f ...

'' (2003) *''

I Capture the Castle ''I Capture the Castle'' is the first novel of List of English writers (R–Z), English author Dodie Smith, written during the Second World War when she and her husband Alec Beesley, an English conscientious objector, moved to California. She ...

'' (2003) *''

Death on the Nile ''Death on the Nile'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at se ...

'', (2004), episode of ''Poirot'' TV series *'' Revolver'' (2005) *''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'' (2008) *'' Parachute'' (2010), music video *''

Secret Diary of a Call Girl ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' is a British drama television series that aired from 27 September 2007 to 22 March 2011 on ITV2, based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour. It stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-end London ...

'' (2011) *''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

'' (2017) *''

Stan & Ollie ''Stan & Ollie'' is a 2018 biographical comedy-drama film directed by Jon S. Baird. The script, written by Jeff Pope, was inspired by ''Laurel and Hardy: The British Tours'' by A.J. Marriot which chronicled the later years of the comedy double ...

'' (2018) *'' Misbehaviour'' (2020)

Haunting

Eltham Palace is listed on

's list of "most

haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

places." The ghost of a former staff member is said to have given tours of the palace when the palace should have been empty.

References

External links

English Heritage - History and visitor information
*
Technology and luxury in an Art Deco masterpiece
on Google Arts & Culture
Flickr images tagged Eltham Palace
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1305 Houses completed in the 14th century Art Deco architecture in London Country houses in London Courtauld family English Heritage sites in London Former palaces in England Gardens in London History of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Houses completed in 1935 Houses in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Grade I listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Grade I listed houses in London Grade I listed palaces Grade I listed museum buildings Historic house museums in London Museums in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Palaces in London Reportedly haunted locations in London Royal residences in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Tudor architecture Tudor royal palaces in England Buildings and structures in Eltham