Episode 177 was about NonSuch Palace.
In this episode of the Renaissance English History Podcast, Heather explores the fascinating story of Nonsuch Palace, one of Henry VIII’s most ambitious architectural projects. Built in 1538 to commemorate the birth of Edward VI and showcase Tudor magnificence, Nonsuch was a statement of unparalleled grandeur and innovation. Heather delves into the palace’s unique design, its significance as a symbol of Henry’s power, and its place in Tudor history, from Elizabeth I’s lavish entertainments to its eventual dismantling in the 17th century. Though the palace no longer stands, its legacy continues to captivate historians and enthusiasts alike.
Related Links: The Palaces of Henry VIIIÂ
A very rough transcript on Episode 177: Nonsuch Palace
Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network. I’m your host, Heather Teysko. I’m a storyteller who makes history accessible because I believe it’s a pathway to understanding who we are, our place in the universe, and being more deeply in touch with our own humanity.
This is episode 177 on NonSuch Palace. But first, hey, Tudorcon. Do I have a deal for you? You can now come to TudorCon in September in beautiful Lancaster County, Pennsylvania at the winery next to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair for 25 a month, interest free. I’ve set up an interest free payment plan option on the shop.
So here’s how it works. First, check out TudorCon at englandcast. com slash TudorCon when you decide you want to go. Because you want to go because it’s awesome. Click over to the shop to buy your tickets. Proceed as normal. And then when it comes time to check out, choose shop pay as your option. And that’s going to then let you set up a payment plan of either 4 or 12 monthly payments, interest free.
So you don’t have to put down all the money right now, you pay the same price, you get to come to TutorCon, September 9th to 11th, but you gotta do it soon. Because I have to pay the final bill and have the catering numbers and all of that. by about a month beforehand. So I’m gonna stop tickets at the end of July.
So, you know, you’ve got a couple of weeks to decide. So anyway, there we go. Englandcast. com slash TutorCon. So moving on, Nonsuch Palace. Do you remember that part in the Tudors where Henry is spiraling into a deep depression after the death of Jane Seymour, and he comes up with the plans for Nonsuch Palace?
Yeah, I remembered that too. And so I wanted to do an episode on it. The short story is Nonsuch Palace was a palace built by Henry. It was in Surrey in 1538. It was so called because it was unique. There was none such like it at the time of its construction. The palace was demolished in 1682. So it was too great for the world, I suppose, sadly.
And no trace of it remains today. But archaeologists have uncovered evidence of its existence and they’ve used the evidence to create a model of what the palace would have looked like. So in the late 1530s, Henry wanted to have a grand hunting estate. He wanted it to have a palace. He wanted it to link to Hampton Court so that he could go back and forth easily because Hampton Court was his other favorite palace.
It was a total vanity project. This is the same time that Francis in France is building Fontainebleau, so he really kind of wanted to. compete there and, and have it be this amazing thing that was just unrivaled in Europe. He also built it to celebrate the birth of Edward, also just to show off. He also wanted it to be an emblem, a lasting symbol of the Tudor dynasty.
His eyes landed on the manor of Cuttington. It had clean air. It had plenty of water. It was a really good site. It was owned by Richard and Elizabeth Cotton. They sold the manor to Henry in 1538. The village, including the church, was demolished. Nearby Merton Priory was suppressed a week before construction began.
It was dismantled. The stones were reused to build the foundations of the new building. Henry started building in April 1538. There were about 500 workmen working, took them nine years, they started clearing the site. The first seven years alone we have costs for, and that was about 24, 000 pounds, about 10 million in today’s prices.
Much more than Hampton Court, which had cost only about 16, 000 pounds and was about three times the size. So basically no expense was spared for NonSuch. There are a couple of different sources we have for information about the palace. There were written accounts of several visitors during the 16th and 17th centuries, including Anthony Watson, writing in the 1580s, William Camden in 1586, and a Thomas Platter in 1599, who wrote detailed descriptions.
There were also paintings and engravings of the building. There was information with surviving documents, like the inventory of the building and the gardens that was done in 1590. And then there was a large scale of excavation in 1959, organized by a John Dent, who was a local librarian. Go libraries! I work in libraries, so go libraries.
And that established the plan and the exact dimensions of the site. Of course, Henry unfortunately died before NonSuch was completed, so the project was handed over to the Earl of Arundel to be completed. Then he died in 1580, his son in law John Lumley was custodian before it returned to the crown in 1592.
The building itself was approached by a long road of elm and walnut trees. It was a very small building, relatively speaking. It was only about 330 feet long by 165 feet wide. Smaller than a football field. So, you know, in terms of grand palaces. It was, but it was a small one. There were two rectangles that were joined together with a court in the middle, and there was an opening in one side in the middle.
The site of the pre existing church at Cunnington could be seen there. The main gatehouse on the north front looked like a fortified castle. There were four octagonal turrets. One at each corner, rising high above the battlement walls. This was the power and the magnificence of the king, set in stone, directly in front of the visitor.
There was a bowling green, an archway opened out onto the courtyard. The roof of the archway was shaped in a way to amplify the sound of the people approaching. They wanted to create this dramatic entrance as the king arrived. And then above the entrance on the inside was a huge sundial with the signs of the Zodiac and the figure of Father Time.
Under the inner gatehouse, there was the inner court. Unlike anything in the world, the lower walls were stone on all four sides above. The walls were covered with near life size stucco reliefs in gleaming white. Each one surrounded by a carved slate frame covered in gold leaf. The courtyard had fountains, statuary, and there was the king’s side, which was on the right, and there was the queen’s side on the left.
On the king’s side, there were statues, stucco statues of 16 gods. On the queen’s side, 16 goddesses. On the king’s side, there was a stucco relief of the life of Hercules from the cradle to his death on Mount Oeta. There were 33 stucco sculptures of Roman emperors, including Julius Caesar. It was amazing.
Then the center wall of the inner court was an example of really how Henry saw himself. At the very top is a row of Roman rulers, and then gods, and then at the bottom of the labors of Hercules, and then right in the middle were the figures of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Edward. Henry was setting himself up among the gods.
He was also the head of the church, so he was right up there with the gods. He’d been elevated to divinity. The figures in the court were also there as an example of how to instruct Edward in the qualities required of a Renaissance prince. And then at certain intervals along the side there were mottos.
Just imagine this white stucco and the gold frames all around the courtyard. It must have been such a sight. The gatehouse in the rear was more elaborate than the one on the northern end of the building. It was the center of the palace and its highest point. It had four crenelated octagonal towers.
There was the sundial facing south on the top of the tower, there was a clock and weather vanes, and then around each of the south towers, the weather vanes, there were statues of the king’s beasts. These were mythical creatures, which supported his coats of arms, and the king had at least nine coat of arms, coats of arms.
So there were all these mythical creatures holding them up. Then there was the south face, where there were these two vast octagonal towers, They were five stories high, and they got wider the higher they went. And the entire south face, including the towers, were covered in these relief statues. In addition to the kings and queens apartments, there was a dining hall, there was a chapel, and a long gallery between the two towers.
The building accounts for the early part of the work, still exists, there reveals that there were German water engineers, a French clockmaker, and Dutch carpenters. So really, it was an international project. In the garden, they used aromatic plants to give a wonderful perfume off of the garden, so that when the queen looked down from her windows, she would have been met not only by the sight, but also the smell of the garden.
And then there was a series of fountains in the center. And then there was a series of fountains in the center of which stood a statue of Diana standing on a mound with water spouting from her breasts. Amazing. On the western side, there was an orchard and a maze. The concept had been introduced from Renaissance Europe and was extension of the knot garden.
The hedges were planted with aromatic plants to enhance the pleasure of walking through them. Anthony Watson said of the Nonsuch Maze, if you veer to the right, you will fall into the hazardous wiles of the labyrinth. Once, even with the aid of Thesis’s thread, you will scarce be able to extricate yourself.
Thomas Platter wrote that the hedges of Nonsuch were so high and thick you could neither see over nor through them. So an amazing place, right? An amazing place that started in royal hands, went into private hands, then back into royal hands, then back into private hands, and eventually had to be demolished.
Nonsuch was sold to Henry FitzAlan, he was the Earl of Arundel in 1555 by Queen Mary in exchange for some cash and some estates in Suffolk, as thanks for his help in gaining the throne from Lady Jane Grey. In 1559, Elizabeth, as Queen, attended the housewarming party. There had been intense activity and completion and works that were done.
The visit, her visit was one of the most colorful events in the history of the palace. His entertainment was the stuff of gossip columns, and everyone assumed that he was wooing her. She remained for five days in August. There was great feasting, and there was banquets. Every night there was a mask, and drums, and flutes, and all of the music.
The final banquet ended at 3. 30 in the morning, but if he was hoping for the Queen’s romantic attention, he did not get it, he was disappointed, and it cost him a lot of money. Over the years, Arendelle’s relationship with Elizabeth was strained. Perhaps because she had romantically rejected him. Or also then there was the small issue of him plotting with Catholics at home and abroad to overthrow her from her throne and replace her with the sister of Jane Grey.
He was punished with confinement for that at the palace for 12 months in 1571. And then he was plotting again, this time in the Rodolphe plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne by marrying her off to the Duke of Norfolk and returning the country to Catholicism. Once more, he was put under house arrest.
Oddly, though, he kept his head, perhaps because Elizabeth thought that he was very useful in how he was investing in the palace. He also had a problem of debt. He had taken on a debt owed by the city of Florence to the queen, and That, combined with his extravagant lifestyle, meant that he was more than a million pounds in debt in today’s money.
When he died in 1580, Lord Arundel’s son in law took on responsibility of the palace, but he was faced with this unpayable debt. He also continued to spend. He built up a library, he created the first Italian garden in England, and it was he who commissioned the fountains. And the falcon statues. By 1590, he was getting desperate to raise money, and so he drew up a huge inventory of all of the belongings at Nonsuch to see what he could sell.
This has been preserved in a red velvet book. It’s just a treasure of all of the information, all of the drawings, all of the fountains, all of the statues, everything that was at Nonsuch. The library later became a part of the British Library, and it was the second largest in private hands. I think John Dee’s was the first.
So John’s solution was that the palace should be transferred to the Queen together with the expense of it, but that he would stay on as the keeper, which is a role that he kept until 1606. But if he thought he would just have this kind of nice retirement life there, he did not. Elizabeth loved Nonsuch.
She spent a lot of time refurnishing it. She spent every summer there. Later in her reign, she had Privy Council meetings there regularly and also visits by the entire court. She would bring over 300 carts of baggage, including tapestries from Hampton Court, which she used to cover the walls. There are a couple of examples of life with Elizabeth in Nonsuch.
On the 23rd of September, 1599, Thomas Platter from Switzerland had the honor of attending Matton’s and lunch with the Queen. Between 12 and 1 o’clock, men with white staffs came in, followed by lords of high standing, and then the queen. Although Platter says she was 74, she was actually only 66. He said she looked no more than 20, standing erect and regal in a white Saturn dress embroidered with gold.
Her headdress was a whole bird of paradise. Her red hair was studded with jewels. She wore a long necklace and pearls and rings and she sat on a cushion. Flanked by her gentlemen, and her secretary, and her ladies in waiting, and then a knight on bended knee offered her books from which she read, after which the Archbishop of Canterbury Wearing a white surplus turned to face her and preached his sermon and at the end just as in the Roman Church when she’d had enough of the heat Elizabeth signed for the sermon to end and withdrew to her private room, but then they served lunch But because she was absent they still had to serve it to her.
He still had to serve to the monarch So is this kind of bizarre lunch where each detail was strictly adhered to first the guards came in You With the royal arms carried in two trestle tables and placed them near where the Queen had been sitting. Then two more guards bowed their way in, bowing to the table.
And then another brought in carving knives and bread and salt to put on the table. And then everybody came back, bowing their way in, standing in front of the table to wait for the food. And then there was a procession of 40 guardsmen, each carrying a dish of food, which he presented to a lady in waiting.
The lady in waiting cut off a piece of food for each guardsman to taste in case it was poisoned. Platter made the note that it seemed like security was slipping because several of the men did not bother to eat their food. When the carving was finished, the wine and beer were brought in and tasted. The dishes of food were offered to the queen in her private apartment.
When the carving was finished, and the wine and beer were brought in and tasted, the dishes of food were given to the queen in her apartment on this very hot day. The light lunch included large joints of beef and all kinds of game. There were tarts and dessert, and then all of that was accompanied by music from the trumpets.
And then the whole ceremony of bowing your way back out and clearing the table was reversed when everyone was done eating. Nonsuch was also the scene of one of the most interesting dramas in Elizabeth’s story when Robert Devereaux, the second Earl of Essex, came back from a disastrous campaign in Ireland, burst into Elizabeth’s bedroom to explain his behavior.
She, of course, was not dressed, out of fit, and, uh, I mean, not really, she kept it together, but then she punished him. This was the start of his downfall, which eventually ended in his trial and execution in 1601. Because she used on such so much, there was a lot of reparative work that needed to be done.
During the last three years of her reign, she spent a lot of time there. She was out riding and hunting. If there was an important issue that came up, she would go to the nearest house for a council meeting. One of the local houses actually got the name Council House. There’s a story that the Queen was returning from hunting and she saw the reflection of the Sun in the windows of Nonsuch.
And she actually thought the building was on fire, and she was so upset by the mistake that she moved to Richmond, and that’s where she died. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s a story that comes up in Nonsuch lore. Of course, Nonsuch went on to have more history in the 17th century. James I gave the palace to his wife, Anne of Denmark.
It was his eldest son, Henry, though, who spent most of his time at Nonsuch. He read the books in the library. He hunted in the Great Park. And then Charles, Charles I, wound up giving NonSuch to his consort Henrietta Maria. During the Civil War, Henrietta Maria used it as a refuge when the Scots invaded in 1640.
In 1650, they did a survey of Nonsuch and said that it was already in need of great repair and it needed a lot of renovations. Charles II, after the Civil War, used Nonsuch to pay off debts to his mistress Barbara Villiards, the Duchess of Cleveland. She was created Baroness Nonsuch for the last time Nonsuch passed from royal hands.
She could not afford to keep it up. And she also had very large and increasing gambling debts, so she applied for permission to destroy the palace. In 1682, demolition began. She outlived her son, so it was her grandson, Charles II, Duke of Grafton, who inherited the estate. And he used it for mortgages and remortgaged it.
The situation got very desperate. And by 1731, Parliament forced the sale of all of his estates. And so ended the story of Nonsuch Palace and the Nonsuch Estate, which now is various parks that you can still visit. So I hope you enjoyed learning about Nonsuch Palace. Such an interesting place. It’s such a shame that we can’t see it.
However, at the, in the show notes at englandcast. com slash nonesuch. That’s N O N S U C H. Um, I will put up pictures and the descriptions and links to all of that stuff, videos, etc, etc. So englandcast. com slash NonSuch. Thank you for listening. Remember TutorCon if you’d like to join in the fun, englandcast.
com slash TutorCon with the payment plan, everything like that. Thanks for listening, and I will talk with you again very soon. Bye-Bye.
Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
