350px, Beaulieu Palace circa 1580
The Palace of Beaulieu ( ) is a former Royal Palace in
Boreham
Boreham is a village and civil parish, in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast from the county town of Chelmsford.
History
Boreham is listed i ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, England, north-east of
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
. The surviving part is a Grade I listed building. The property is currently occupied by
New Hall School
New Hall School is a Catholic co-educational independent boarding and day school in the village of Boreham in the City of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It was founded in 1642 in the Low Countries, now Belgium, by sisters of the Catholic order Cano ...
.
History
![Palace of Beaulieu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Palace_of_Beaulieu.jpg)
The estate on which it was built – the manor of ''Walhfare'' in Boreham – was granted to the Canons of
Waltham Abbey
Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and E ...
in 1062. After various changes of possession, it was granted by the Crown to
Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond
Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond PC (1426 – 3 August 1515) was the youngest son of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond. He was attainted, but restored by Henry VII's first Parliament in November 1485, and the statutes made at Westminster, by ...
in 1491. By this time, it had a house called New Hall.
In 1516, New Hall was sold by
Thomas Boleyn, father of
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
, to King
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
for £1,000. The king rebuilt the house in brick at a cost of £17,000. He gave his new palace the name Beaulieu, meaning "beautiful place" in
French. The name expressed Henry's desire for fine things, though the name change did not outlast the century.
On 23 July 1527 Henry's court arrived at Beaulieu on his summer progress, staying, unusually, for over a month in the company of a large number of nobles and their wives, including Anne Boleyn's father who had been created
Viscount Rochford
Viscount Rochford is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England.
The first creation was made in favour of Sir Thomas Boleyn in 1525 by King Henry VIII. The title was taken from Boleyn's Rochford country estate in Essex. In 15 ...
, the
Dukes of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...
and
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, the
Marquess of Exeter
Marquess of Exeter is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1525 for Henry Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon. For more ...
, the
Earls of Oxford
Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half centuries, until the death of the 20th Earl in 170 ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, and
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
, and
Viscount Fitzwalter. It was here that Henry devised a scheme to allow him to cohabit with his intended successor of Queen
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...
, Anne Boleyn, by obtaining a
Papal bull that declared Henry's marriage to Catherine invalid, effectively allowing him to commit
bigamy
In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...
by claiming he was technically unmarried in the first place. This plan was dropped when
Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...
discovered the plan, though
Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...
did, in fact, issue a bull to the same effect that December.
In October 1533, the daughter of Queen Catherine,
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, who had been staying at Beaulieu for some time, was evicted, as the king had recently granted the palace to
George Boleyn
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504 – 17 May 1536) was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s. He was the brother of Anne Boleyn, from 1533 the second wife of King He ...
(Anne Boleyn's brother). George had been a keeper at Beaulieu when the palace was in the hands of the king. The
royal inventory of 1547 noted 29 great beds, four bathing rooms with wooden floors and beds set in the wall, and a library with 37 titles.
After Anne Boleyn was beheaded and Henry married
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was List of English consorts, Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their Wives of Henry VIII, marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen followi ...
, he was convinced by his new wife to bring his daughters back to court. In 1537, when Queen Jane died after giving birth to a son,
Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
, Mary, Henry's eldest daughter was made godmother to her half-brother Edward and acted as chief mourner at the Queen's funeral. Henry granted her a household and Mary was permitted to reside in royal palaces. Her privy purse expenses for nearly the whole of this period have been published and show that
Hatfield Palace
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert C ...
, the Palace of Beaulieu (also called New Hall),
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, and
Hunsdon
Hunsdon is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is around east of Ware and north-west of Harlow. The population of the village taken at the 2011 Census was 1,080.
See also
*Baron Hunsdon
*Hunsdon Airfield
*The Hundred Pa ...
were among her principal places of residence.
Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
granted the estate in 1573 to
Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex
Thomas Radclyffe (or Ratclyffe), 3rd Earl of Sussex KG (c. 15259 June 1583), was Lord Deputy of Ireland during the Tudor period of English history, and a leading courtier during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Family
He was the eldest son of Henr ...
, who seems to have largely rebuilt the north wing. It is not known though whether he rebuilt other parts of the palace; a fire had occurred in Henry VIII's time and the palace could have been mostly rebuilt then. Soon after the north range was completed, Thomas installed Elizabeth's coat of arms above the main entrance which is still visible today. In 1622, Robert Radcliffe, 5th Earl of Sussex, sold it to
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...
for £30,000.
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 ...
,
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
took possession of the estate for the sum of five
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s. After reverting to the
2nd Duke of Buckingham at the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
, it was sold to
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cru ...
, and the court of King
Charles II was frequently entertained there.
Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, visited in 1669 and a member of his retinue produced a view of the house. A copy of this view was published in 1821.
![School view small file](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/School_view_small_file.jpg)
Benjamin Hoare acquired the property in 1713, but it was in a poor state when purchased in 1737 by
John Olmius, elevated to the peerage as
Baron Waltham in 1762, who demolished and rebuilt much of the former palace. The north wing was left largely untouched and forms the present house. John was succeeded in 1762 by his son
Drigue who died childless in 1787, aged 40, when New Hall devolved on his sister, the Honourable Elizabeth. However, she died the same year and her husband
John Luttrell, later the
Earl of Carhampton
Earl of Carhampton was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1785 for Simon Luttrell, 1st Viscount Carhampton. He had already been created Baron Irnham, of Luttrellstown in the County of Dublin, in 1768 and Viscount Carhampton, of ...
, took on the Olmius name; but, already owning the Carhampton estate including
Painshill
Painshill (also referred to as "Pains Hill" in some 19th-century texts), near Cobham, Surrey, England, is one of the finest remaining examples of an 18th-century English landscape park. It was designed and created between 1738 and 1773 by Charl ...
, he sold New Hall in 1798.
The purchasers in 1798 were the English nuns of the
Order of the Holy Sepulchre
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic Church, Catholic order of ...
, who opened a
Catholic school
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
there the following year.
New Hall School
New Hall School is a Catholic co-educational independent boarding and day school in the village of Boreham in the City of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It was founded in 1642 in the Low Countries, now Belgium, by sisters of the Catholic order Cano ...
remains a school to this day. The Royal Arms of Henry VIII are in the school chapel. In 2006 a book, ''New Hall and its School'', was published by Tony Tuckwell.
The Beaulieu name is now remembered in the name of the nearby housing estate, Beaulieu Park,
Boreham
Boreham is a village and civil parish, in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast from the county town of Chelmsford.
History
Boreham is listed i ...
.
In February 2009, Channel 4's ''
Time Team
''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...
'' visited and excavated the grounds of the former palace. The
special programme was broadcast on 13 April 2009. In the excavations, the team uncovered the chapel, west wing and the gatehouse.
Time team dig historic school
Notes and references
Notes
Citations
External links
Henry VIII & Catherine of Aragon Coat of Arms
New Hall history
Read a detailed historical record on Beaulieu Palace
{{coord, 51.7644, 0.5119, type:landmark_region:GB-ESS, display=title
Beaulieu, Palace of
History of Essex
Beaulieu, Palace of
Beaulieu, Palace of
Beaulieu, Palace of
Country houses in Essex
Boreham