Oatlands Palace

Much of the foundation stone for the palace came from Chertsey Abbey, which was abandoned and fell into ruins after the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the Protestant Reformation in England.[http://www.elmbridgemuseum.org.uk/?document=100.050.020 Elmbridge museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610090217/http://www.elmbridgemuseum.org.uk/?document=100.050.020 |date=2008-06-10 }}

File:Oatlands Palace gateway, Weybridge, Surrey.jpg

Henry VIII came to Oatlands on a progress in September 1514 and hunted stags on Chertsey Meads.Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 1 (London, 1791), p. 6. He acquired the house in 1538, and rebuilt it for Anne of Cleves.

The palace was built around three main adjoining quadrangular courtyards covering fourteen hectares and using an existing 15th-century moated manor house.[http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/3994.html Oatlands Palace from the Gatehouse]

A bed made for Anne of Cleves was described in an inventory of Oatlands: Queen Anne's bed" had curtains of crimson cloth of gold and cloth of silver decorated with borders of purple velvet on the seams. It featured 108 embroidered badges of Anne and Henry and their crowned arms on the tester and ceeler.David Starkey, Inventory of Henry VIII (London, 1998), p. 296 no. 12648.

Henry VIII married Katherine Howard in the palace on 28 July 1540.[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/sixwives/lifelinks/howard.html Six wives of Henry VIII] Henry's subsequent wife, Katherine Parr, spent time at the Palace as well. Records of her writings include a letter sent from Oatlands to her brother, William, Lord Parr, shortly after her marriage to the King in July 1543.Janel Mueller, Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2011), p. 46. Henry VIII was less mobile in his later years and a special ramp was built for him at Oatlands so he could mount his hunting horses.Simon Thurley, Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale, 1993), p. 60.

Mary Tudor retreated to Oatlands after the end of her anticipated pregnancy. Her previous residence, Hampton Court Palace, had housed the nursery staff that was assembled for the birth of the child. The announcement of the move to Oatlands (which was considerably smaller than Hampton) ended any hope at court of a happy outcome to the Queen's pregnancy.

Elizabeth I employed her Sergeant Painter Leonard Fryer to decorate the long gallery with a woodgrain pattern in 1598. After priming the panelling with white lead paint, he painted imitation "flotherwoode", with gold and silver highlights on the mouldings, and arabesque patterns and paintwork of "markatree", perhaps resembling marquetry. Fryer used "sweet varnish" to finish his work, chosen for its scent.Ian C. Bristow, Architectural Colour in British Interiors, 1615-1840 (Yale, 1996), pp. 2, 11.

Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth were in residence in August 1603.Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603–1607, vol. 10 (London, 1900), p. 74 no. 104. Prince Charles came from Dunfermline Palace to Oatlands in September 1604.Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603–1607, vol. 10 (London, 1900), p. 182 no. 274.

The palace belonged to James I's wife Anne of Denmark from August 1611.Arthur McGregor, The Late King's Goods (London, 1989), 33: Howard Colvin, The History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 213. She built a silkworm house and a vineyard, and employed Inigo Jones to design an ornamental gateway from the Privy Garden to the Park.Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), pp. 69–70. Work on site was supervised by Robert Stickells and the Keeper John Trevor.Herbert Horne, "Life of Inigo Jones, II", Hobby Horse, 7:2 (1893), 73. The gardener John Bonnall planted "new and rare fruits, flowers, herbs, and trees".Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer (London, 1836), pp. 228-9. The window of a silkworm house was decorated with the Queen's heraldry. Anne ordered a new garden wall to be rebuilt to make the "French garden" wider.Howard Colvin, The History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 214.

Her art collection at Oatlands included portraits of her Danish nephews, her courtiers Jean Drummond, Mary Middlemore, and Tom Durie. Her own portrait was painted by Paul van Somer, showing her with her horse, held by an African servant, hunting dogs around her feet, and the new gateway and the palace in the background.Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), 97, 168–172.File:Portrait of Anne of Danemark.jpg]]The queen's bed was "laced with parchment lace of gold and silver spaingled", and the bedchamber was lined with panels of satin laced with coloured silks.Annabel Westman, Fringe, Frog & Tassel: The Art of the Trimmings-Maker (London, 2019), 22, 33. Furnishing included painted and gilt Italian style chairs, and other seating was upholstered in red velvet with her initials.Arthur McGregor, The Late King's Goods (London, 1989), 291, 300, 317. Despite this luxury, Anne of Denmark was sometimes bored or melancholy, and wrote to King James that she was "weary of Oatlands, of my mares, of my deer, of my dogs, and of my vineyard".William Dunn Macray, Beaumont Papers (London: Roxburghe Club, 1884), x, 21.

The ambassador of Savoy, Antonio Scanese, Count of Scarnafes, arrived to visit Anne of Denmark at Oatlands on 3 October 1614.Allen Hinds, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1613–1615, vol. 13 (London, 1907), p. 207 no. 423. She provided a grand reception for the Venetian ambassador Piero Contarini at Oatlands on 30 August 1618. He was welcomed and entertained by her Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Leicester, while they waited for the arrival of several noblewomen, including Margaret Howard, Countess of Nottingham and the Countess of Arundel. The Queen had planned a hunt, but it was rained off. At the end of the dinner there were sweetmeats, then they stood and toasted Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Frederick V.Allen Hinds, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1617–1619, vol. 15 (London, 1909), 314–5. For such occasions, the under-keeper Ralph Dison borrowed furnishings from other palaces.Wendy Hitchmough, 'Setting the Stuart court: placing portraits in the performance of Anglo-Spanish negotiations', Journal of the History of Collections, 32:2 (July 2020), 245–264.

Oatlands was one of the properties settled upon Henrietta Maria on her marriage to Charles I. She used it as a country retreat, installing part of her art collection on site, employing Ralph Grynder to make new furnishings and John Tradescant the elder to remake the gardens.Annabel Westman, Fringe Frog & Tassel: The Art of the Trimmings-Maker in Interior Decoration in Britain and Ireland (London: Philip Wilson, 2019), p. 35. Henrietta Maria staged a pastoral masque at the palace in August 1635.Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford, 2006), p. 137. In August 1637 it was rumoured she was sickening with consumption (tuberculosis, which was frequently fatal as penicillin was not yet discovered). At Oatlands she was drinking asses' (donkeys) milk as a remedy.HMC 4th Report: Earl de la Warr (London, 1874), p. 293.

In 1646 Oatlands was a temporary home of the infant Princess Henrietta of England, daughter of Charles I of England and later Duchess of Orleans, sister-in-law of Louis XIV. Her governess Lady Dalkeith smuggled her into France in the summer of 1646 during the English Civil War.

After the King was executed, the Commonwealth Government sold Oatlands and some other Royal residences to help pay Parliamentary debts. Robert Turbridge bought Oatlands Palace and its contents for about £4,000. He demolished it and sold the bricks to Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place.{{citation |url=http://www.weybridgesociety.org.uk/Oatlands_Palace_History |title=Oatlands Palace History |year=2017 |publisher= Weybridge Society|access-date=13 July 2017}}

A single house – remote from the site of the palace itself and possibly originally functioning as a hunting lodge – survived the demolition. After the Restoration, during the 1660s, it was the residence of the pro-Commonwealth William Boteler. He had served as one of the ten major-generals during the Rule of the Major-Generals (1656) and was noted as being harsh on Roman Catholics, Quakers and Cavaliers.{{Cite ODNB|mode=cs2 |year=2004 |last=Roots |first=Ivan |author-link=Ivan Roots |id=37209 |title=Boteler, William}}

The house was later occupied and extended by Sir Edward Herbert, the Lord Chief Justice. He forfeited it to the Crown when he followed James II into exile. It was awarded to his brother, Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, who was later the admiral in command of the English and Dutch Fleets at the Battle of Beachy Head.{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/herbert-arthur-1648-1716|title=Herbert, Arthur (c.1648–1716), of Oatlands Park, Weybridge, Surrey|publisher=History of Parliament|access-date=7 August 2017}}

Arthur left the house to Henry Clinton, 7th Earl of Lincoln, whose son Henry Clinton again enlarged it as well as laying out formal gardens. He abandoned it as his main residence when he inherited Clumber Park and sold Oatlands back to the Crown in 1788.{{citeweb|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/family/newcastle/familyseats.aspx|title=Dukes of Newcastle - Family Seats|publisher=University of Nottingham}}

In 1790, Oatlands was leased from the Crown by the Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III.{{cite book |last=Lock |first=A.H. |title=Surrey in 1815. A picture of Surrey life in 1815 |year=1974 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Reading |isbn=0-85045-179-5 }} His architect was Henry Holland. In November the following year Frederick and his brother the Prince of Wales hosted composer Joseph Haydn, who stayed for two days, played music for four hours each evening{{cite book |last=Robbins Landon |first=Howard Chandler |author-link=H. C. Robbins Landon |title=The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn |year=1959 |publisher=Barrie and Rockliff |location=London }} and recorded in his second London notebook:

{{quote|

The little castle, 18 miles from London, lies on a slope and commands the most glorious view. Among its many beauties is a most remarkable grotto which cost £25 000 sterling, and which was 11 years in the building. It is very large and contains many diversions, inter alia actual water that flows in from various sides, a beautiful English garden, various entrances and exits, besides a most charming bath.{{cite web|url=http://www.fjhaydn.com/my-blog/2016/02/1791-the-year-part-6.html|title=1791 – The Year part 6 – The Year Ends – Triumph & Tragedy|first=Joseph|last= Haydn|access-date=7 August 2017}}}}

The house burned down in 1794 but was quickly rebuilt in Strawberry Hill Gothic style.

File:Oatlands House, ornamental gates, Weybridge, Surrey.jpg

After the death of the Duke's estranged wife Frederica in 1820, the whole property was sold. It was bought by Edward Hughes Ball Hughes in 1824 (although it was not until after the Duke's death in 1827 that the sale was finally concluded) and again remodelled in 1830. Hughes had tried to dispose of the estate by public auction in 1829 but this part did not sell.

In 1832 he leased the mansion and adjoining parkland to Lord Francis Egerton for a seven-year period, and renewed the term in 1839. The arrival of the London and South Western Railway in 1838 made it possible for residents to commute daily to London. In 1846 the estate was broken up into lots for building development and sold at three public auctions in May, August and September of that year. Following a period of private ownership by James Watts Peppercorne, the house was adapted and operated as a hotel in 1856, known as the South Western (later Oatlands Park) Hotel.

From 1916 to 1918, during World War I, the British government used the hotel as a hospital for New Zealand troops injured in France.{{cite web |url=http://www.oatlandsparkhotel.com/datasite/oatlands_leisure/history.htm |title=History |access-date=2008-04-30 |work=Oatlands Park Hotel |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080223095253/http://www.oatlandsparkhotel.com/datasite/oatlands_leisure/history.htm |archive-date = 2008-02-23}} Subsequently, one of the main streets in Walton-on-Thames was renamed New Zealand Avenue[http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&GridE=-0.42004&GridN=51.38439&lon=-0.42004&lat=51.38439&place=New+Zealand+Avenue,+KT12,+WALTON-ON-THAMES&db=GB&scale=5000&search_result=New%20Zealand%20Avenue%2C%20KT12%2C%20WALTON-ON-THAMES&lang=&db=GB&keepicon=true New Zealand Avenue] in honour of those men.

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{{commons}}

• [https://www.royalpalaces.com/palaces/oatlands-palace/ Oatlands Palace, Royal Palaces by Simon Thurley]
• [http://www.oatlandsparkhotel.com/ Oatlands Park Hotel]
• [http://www.oatlands-heritage.org Oatlands Heritage]
• [http://tudorqueen6.com/2012/07/28/20-july-1543-queen-katherine-to-her-brother-william-parr/ Letter from Queen Katherine Parr to her brother William Parr, written 20 July 1543 at Oatlands Palace]

{{Royal palaces in the United Kingdom}}

Category:1538 establishments in England

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Category:Anne of Denmark

Category:Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Category:Henrietta Maria of France

Category:Henry VIII

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Category:Catherine Parr