Havering Palace was an old royal residence in England. Between its building before 1066 until its abandonment in 1686 it was in the village of Havering-atte-Bower (in the London Borough of Havering, before 1965 in Essex). By 1816 no walls remained above ground.
The earliest references to a royal demesne at Havering date from the time of Edward the Confessor, and although there is no definite proof that he ever visited it, the strength of local legend suggests he did, and as the manor was recorded in the Domesday Book as being held by Earl Harold in 1066 it seems likely that it had been held by Edward. It was definitely a royal manor by the Norman Conquest when it passed to William the Conqueror. [1] The royal manor also gave the surrounding area the designation of the Royal Liberty of Havering, which gave those living in the area freedom from taxation and other benefits. The manor was granted to Queen Eleanor by Henry III in 1262 (or possibly 1267 [2] ) and thereafter usually belonged to the queen consort or dowager (the queen mother) until the death of Jane Seymour in 1537, [3] this association leading to the 'Bower' portion of the village's place name.
A house was already at Havering by the 12th century, and extensive building took place in the 13th century. Many monarchs from then on are recorded as having stayed there and in 1358 Edward III held a five-month Marshalsea Court at Havering Palace for locals to air their personal grievances, an unusual act since the Marshalsea Court was reserved for the royal household. Not all monarchs used Havering Palace for such holy occupations as did King Edward the Confessor, and in 1381 at the end of the Peasants' Revolt some who had rebelled met the young King Richard II to ask for mercy as he held court at Havering, but despite their pleas many were tried and executed. [4] Richard also visited in 1397 on his way to Pleshey on a visit to Thomas of Woodstock which started a train of events that resulted in his murder on Richard's behalf. [5]
The palace needed upkeep with £50 being spent on repairs in 1521 and a further £230 on repairing the pale to the park in 1524. In the 1530s the house and park consisted of five officials, being Keeper of the Outwoods, Keeper of Havering Park, Paler of Havering Park, Keeper of the South Gate and Keeper of the Manor, [6] But the palace itself was a rambling affair and took much upkeep so that, before Elizabeth I visited in 1568 seven carpenters, four bricklayers and two plumbers worked for up to 10 days in preparation and 'scowrers' cleaned the well. [7] Queen Elizabeth I stayed at Havering Palace on several other occasions in the 1560s and 1570s and may also have stayed there while the army was mustered before going on to give her famous address at Tilbury [8] although other sources dispute this. [9] Despite the earlier repairs, even greater effort was required before a visit in 1594 involving lime, sand and gravel with work including sealing the vice-chamberlain's chamber, new rafters for the bakehouse, rehanging the gates on new gateposts and even a new bucket for the well. Certainly the impression given is of a building in much need of regular repair. [10]
A survey of the buildings was made in May 1596 which noted fixtures and glazing in the main rooms, and only such furniture as cupboards and tables and internal porches, which were called "portal doors". The palace was watertight. There was a chamber for Lady Cobham and a lodging for the ladies of the Privy Chamber by the garden. [11] This lodging was noted as rooms for "Ladies of Honour" on a ground plan drawn by John Symonds in 1578. [12] After Elizabeth, James I stayed there regularly, usually for a single night. [13] The house and manor were granted to his wife Anne of Denmark as part of her English jointure. [14]
A Scottish courtier, George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar, wrote of the health benefits enjoyed after a day's hunting at Havering in 1608, "our greatest matters here are hunting and sport for his Majesty's pleasure, the which being his health is the general good of us all". [15] The Keeper of Havering, until her death in December 1612, was Elizabeth Trentham, Countess of Oxford. [16] It has been suggested that James preferred to use Theobalds House on the other side of Epping Forest. [17]
King Charles I was the last monarch to stay at Havering on 29–31 October 1638, possibly the only time that he visited the palace. He was on the way to meet his mother-in-law Marie de' Medici at nearby Gidea Hall. The close association with monarchy may have affected what happened during the Commonwealth as Richard Deane, who was one of those who signed the warrant for the Execution of Charles I, started dismantling the buildings and caused all of the mature trees in the park to be felled. [17] After the Restoration the house, by then called Havering House and described as "a confused heap of old ruinous decayed buildings", [18] was occupied by the Earl of Lindsey but despite evidence of considerable sums of money being spent on repairs to "His Majestys house at Havering", it became vacant some time between 1686 and 1719, when it was reported to be in ruins. A Latin inscription in the hall of the current Bower House, then named Mount Havering, implies that parts of that building were constructed using materials from the old Palace, and whether by removal or natural decay by 1740 the remains were not sufficient to allow the layout of the old buildings to be discerned, [19] and by 1816 no walls were visible above ground. [3] The final links with Havering Palace began to be severed when the prerogatives of the manor, including the right to appoint the High Steward of the Liberty, were auctioned in 1828 being purchased by Hugh McIntosh who lived at Marshalls in Romford. [20] His son David McIntosh built a new mansion at Havering Park in place of the Bower Farm that stood near the site of the old house and probably incorporated some of the old outbuildings, and had the current church built in 1878 to replace the old one that had its origins in the palace chapel. [21]
At its greatest extent before decay set in, most of the palace dated from the major building works of the 13th century with a newer block built in 1576–7. Described in the late 16th century the plan was irregular with entry through a gatehouse allowing access to a set of connected buildings containing a great chamber, royal apartments, two chapels, and accommodation for the Lord Chamberlain and Lord High Treasurer. Supporting buildings included kitchens, a buttery, scullery, salthouse, spicery and a wet larder, beyond which were stables, various other out-buildings, and a garden. [3] [22] The parkland surrounding it covered most of the former parish of Havering-atte-Bower west of the main road (now North Road) and was much more extensive than the current Havering Country Park, which covers the part of the former park adjoining the site of the palace and is the 18th-highest hill in London.
Royalty and other famous people who have resided in the palace at some point include:
The London Borough of Havering in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The borough is mainly suburban, with large areas of protected open space. Romford is a major retail and night time entertainment centre, and to the south the borough extends into the London Riverside redevelopment area of the Thames Gateway. The name Havering is a reference to the Royal Liberty of Havering which occupied the area for several centuries. The local authority is Havering London Borough Council. It is the easternmost London borough.
Ardleigh Green is an area in east London, England, within the London Borough of Havering. It is 15.5 miles (25 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross. This part of London is predominantly residential.
Gidea Park is a neighbourhood in the east of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, south-east England.
Havering, also known as Havering-atte-Bower, was a royal manor and ancient liberty whose area now forms part of, and gives its name to, the London Borough of Havering in Greater London. The manor was in the possession of the Crown from the 11th to the 19th centuries and was the location of Havering Palace from the 13th to the late 17th century. It occupied the same area as the ancient parish of Hornchurch which was divided into the three chapelries of Havering, Hornchurch and Romford.
Havering-atte-Bower is a village and outlying settlement of Greater London, England. It is located in the far north of the London Borough of Havering, on the border with Essex, and is 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Charing Cross. It was one of three former parishes whose area comprised the historic Royal Liberty of Havering.
Romford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2001 by Andrew Rosindell, a Conservative. It was created in 1885 and was subject to significant changes in boundaries in 1918 and 1945. It initially covered a huge swathe of what is now East London, with parts of the constituency progressively removed as they experienced significant increases in population as London expanded. The constituency has more or less coincided with the town of Romford since 1955.
Theobalds House in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, north of London, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries.
Hornchurch was a local government district in southwest Essex from 1926 to 1965, formed as an urban district for the civil parish of Hornchurch. It was greatly expanded in 1934 with the addition of Cranham, Great Warley, Rainham, Upminster and Wennington; and in 1935 by gaining North Ockendon. Hornchurch Urban District Council was based at Langtons House in Hornchurch from 1929. The district formed a suburb of London and with a population peaking at 131,014 in 1961, it was one of the largest districts of its type in England. It now forms the greater part of the London Borough of Havering in Greater London.
Navestock is a civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. It is located approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) northwest of the town of Brentwood and the M25 motorway cuts through the western edge of the parish. It covers an area of in excess of 1800 hectares and had a population of 510 in 2001, increasing to 585 in 2011. The name means ‘the stump on the headland’, which reflects its topography and landscape.
Stapleford Abbotts is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, approximately 5.5 mi (9 km) SW of Ongar, 4.5 mi (7 km) N of Romford and 5 mi (8 km) SSE of Epping. The whole parish is within the M25 motorway. The village covers 957 hectares and had a population of 959 in 2001, increasing to 1,008 at the 2011 Census.
Bedfords Park is public open space of 215 acres or approximately 87½ hectares near Havering-atte-Bower in the London Borough of Havering in England. It is one of three large parklands around Havering-atte-Bower; the others are Havering Country Park and Pyrgo Park.
Lady Margaret Courtenay was the only daughter of William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon and Catherine of York. Her maternal grandparents were Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. Margaret was a younger sister of Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter. Their maternal first cousins included among others, Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret Tudor, Queen consort of Scotland, King Henry VIII of England, and Mary Tudor, Queen consort of France. When she was young she was partly raised under the protection of her aunt Elizabeth of York and lived in 1502 at the Queen's residence at Havering Palace.
Pyrgo Park is a park at Havering-atte-Bower in the London Borough of Havering, in North East London, England. It is the site of the former Pirgo Palace, built before 1540 and demolished by 1814; and of Pyrgo House, built 1852, which lasted less than a century.
Gidea Hall was a manor house in Gidea Park, the historic parish and Royal liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, whose former area today is part of the north-eastern extremity of Greater London.
Kings Langley Palace was a 13th-century Royal Palace which was located to the west of the Hertfordshire village of Kings Langley in England. During the Middle Ages, the palace served as a residence of the Plantagenet kings of England. It fell into disuse sometime during the 16th century and became a ruin. Today, nothing remains of the building except for some archaeological remains. The site is a scheduled ancient monument.
Sir Thomas Tipping was a late 17th-century English baronet and Member of Parliament.
Carew Hervey Mildmay was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and 1656. He fought in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
Marks was a manor house located near Marks Gate at the northern tip of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in London, England, the house standing on what is now Warren Hall Farm, about two miles west of Romford. The name Marks is believed to have been derived from the de Merk family who built the original manor in the 14th century. The manor house was demolished in 1808.
Affabel Partridge was a London goldsmith who served Elizabeth I.
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