Eltham Palace
Eltham Palace is a large house in Eltham, London, England (Map Ref: TQ424740 Coordinates: ), currently owned by English Heritage and open to the public. It has been said the partially Art Deco house is a "masterpiece of modern design".[1]
Historic palace
The original palace was given to Edward II in 1305 and used as a royal residence from the 14th to the 16th century. According to one account the incident which inspired Edward III's foundation of the Order of the Garter took place here. As the favourite palace of Henry IV it played host to Manuel II Palaiologos, the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, from December 1400 to January 1401, with a joust being given in his honour. There is still a jousting tilt yard. Edward IV built a Great Hall in the 1470s, and Prince Henry also grew up here; it was here that he met and impressed the scholar Erasmus. In the 1630s, by which time the palace was no longer used by the royal family, Sir Anthony van Dyck was given the use of a suite of rooms as a country retreat. The palace never recovered from its neglect during the English Civil War.
The current house was built in the 1930s on the site of the original, and incorporates its Great Hall.
Modern house
In 1933 Sir Stephen and Lady Virginia Courtauld acquired the lease of the palace site and restored the Great Hall while building an Art Deco home (Stephen was the younger brother of industrialist and art collector Samuel Courtauld, founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art). The Courtaulds remained at Eltham until 1944 when they moved to Scotland, giving the palace to the Royal Army Educational Corps in March 1945; they remained there until 1992.
In 1995 English Heritage assumed management of the palace, and in 1999 completed major repairs and restorations of the interiors and gardens.
The palace is open to the public and can be hired for weddings and other functions. Public transport is available at the nearby Mottingham railway station or Eltham railway station, both a short walk from the palace.
Filming
Many films and television programmes have been filmed at Eltham Palace, including:
- Bright Young Things
- I Capture the Castle
- High Heels and Low Lifes
- The Gathering Storm
- Home Front
- Any Questions
- The History of Romantic Love
- This Morning
- Antiques Roadshow
- The Truth
- The 200 Year House
- Brideshead revisited (2007 BBC production)
External links
- Eltham Palace website
- English Heritage - visitors guide
- English Heritage - information for teachers
- English Heritage - Medieval and Tudor Eltham Palace - information for teachers
- Eltham Palace: An Alternative Guide
- Flickr images tagged Eltham Palace
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