Hampton Court
Hampton Court photos (35 available)
Hampton Court maps (2 available)
Hampton Court books (16 available)
- 11 photos on Hampton Court appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Hampton Court
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Hampton Court and London
Hampton Court memories
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London memories
The Hub of My Young Universe
London's main railway stations truly are wonderful and Charing Cross was the one that I frequented the most as I travelled every weekday from Woolwich Arsenal in SE London to Green Park Underground, near the great Victoria Station.
The sounds of the whistles, doors slamming, the hum of the electric trains...the overhead announcements reverberating in the cavernous domed roof... "last call for Waterloo, London Bridge, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Charlton, Woolwich Dockyard , Woolwich Arsenal, Plumstead, Abbey Wood, Belvedere, Slade Green, Erith and Deptford"...and that recalled after 46 years !! (Says a lot for the theory of conditioning doesn't it !!)
And then the train pulls out across the old iron bridge high above the Thames, looking ...read more here
A memory of London contributed by DYLAN RIVIS
Prodigal Son Returned
I think it ought to be mandatory, for every person of English heritage, to pass through Westminster Abbey at least once!
Returning from Canada and, later, the USA , for only the second time in 35 years I took my late teenage son and daughter to tour Westminster Abbey. There we joined the throng as it somehow wound its way through the crowded abbey.
As much as I have become a North American, it surprised me that I was brought to tears as I touched and saw the incredible depth of history that this magnificent historic treasure holds within its walls. A very moving and self-establishing experience.
I should point out that I was well familiar with ...read more here
A memory of London contributed by DYLAN RIVIS
Painful memories of Paulton Square.
As a frightened 7 year old, in 1950, I was plunged into an unfamiliar London life when my meddling and self righteous aunt unfortunately reminded my stepfather of fulfill his promise to my dying mother to 'take care of Jimmy'. He had since remarried and brought my sister and I together again after we had spent three years apart,my sister with his parents in Chester and I, happily in Kirkbymoorside, my mother's home in the North Yorkshire Moors with my wonderful, loving, foster family, and
We lived in Paulton's Square , just off the King's Road in an elegant , Georgian, three storey row house with wrought iron railings. In the centre of the square was a ...read more here
A memory of London contributed by DYLAN RIVIS
A Spectacular Entrance to Central London.
Before my time, of course, but this is still a very familiar view to me . Not only did I intern (from Westminster Technical College Hotel School) at the Charing Cross Hotel on the right but also passed through the station 5 days a week for two years.
On occasion I'd stay too late at a party on a Friday night and have to get the 'milk train' in the dawn hours. I loved walking the streets of London in the middle of the night.
I also loved coming in across the Thames into Charing Cross station on the Southern Railways from Woolwich Arsenal. To me it is a spectacular station and continues to be so even with the ...read more here
A memory of London contributed by DYLAN RIVIS
Extracts From Hampton Court & London books
The King’s Guard Chamber contains one of
the world’s greatest displays of weaponry.
Entrance to the private and state
apartments was not granted by the Yeoman
of the Guard until the visitor had passed
through the King’s Guard Chamber. Here
undoubtedly ambassadors, emissaries
and other distinguished visitors were
challenged and searched for weapons.
With the display of over 3000 arms laid
out in a decorative pattern by William
III’s gunsmith Harris, anyone attempting
mischief would have been put off.
An extract from from"Kingston upon Thames Photographic Memories".
The passenger launch
SS ‘Queen Elizabeth’
has almost beached to
disembark and take on
board passengers.
A gangplank has been laid
to the foreshore. In the
background is the third
bridge at Hampton, opened
in 1865; its wrought iron
lattice girders of five spans
were replaced with the
present bridge in 1933.
An extract from from"Kingston upon Thames Photographic Memories".
This is the south-east front, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1689 and 1700.
The palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16th century, but seeing his sovereign’s
displeasure, Wolsey was forced to offer the magnificent palace to Henry VIII. Five of Henry’s
wives lived here at some point; Anne Boleyn spent her honeymoon at Hampton Court during its
construction. William III and his Queen, Mary, instructed Christopher Wren to rebuild and remodel
the Tudor palace and landscape its surroundings. The overwhelming grandeur of Hampton Court’s
thousand rooms, its royal art collection, its formal gardens and its yew maze leave an unforgettable
impression on visitors.
An extract from from"Kingston upon Thames Photographic Memories".
The stone drawbridge entrance to the Great Gatehouse to the palace was buried when Charles II had the moat filled in.
The Ministry of Works had the moat dug out again in 1909-10, and discovered Henry VIII’s bridge. It lacked the parapets on
either side, which were rebuilt, together with the supporters of the royal arms, known as the King’s Beasts. The Beasts were
renewed in 1950.
An extract from from"Kingston upon Thames Photographic Memories".
Those who come to Hampton
Court Palace by way of Bushy
Park or from Kingston enter
through the Lion Gates, which
face the end of the splendid
avenue of chestnut trees. This
approach gains its name from
the carved lions on the piers.
Queen Anne built the gates, and
carved on the columns are her
initials. The wrought-iron work
is very fine, and is believed to
have been done by the French
master of wrought iron work,
Tijou. In the upper panels the
letter’ G’, which stands for King
George, has replaced the ‘A’. The
famous maze is just inside the
Lion Gates.
An extract from from"Kingston upon Thames Photographic Memories".







