The Vyne was built in the 16th century for Lord Sandys, Henry VIII’s Lord Chamberlain.
Henry VIII first visited in 1510 with his first wife Catherine of Aragon. The Tudor Gothic Chapel houses magnificent Renaissance stained glass depicting Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. It is also home to 16th century Flemish-Majolica tiles and a wealth of furniture, textiles and oak panelling dating back to c1521.
The Vyne is also home to one of the most richly decorated long galleries surviving from the first half of the 16th century and a stone gallery.
Henry visited on two more occasions, in 1531 and in 1535 accompanied by his second wife Queen Anne Boleyn. Sandys would later escort Anne to her imprisonment in the Tower.
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I wonder how Anne felt on her visit to The Vyne. Praying in the chapel looking up at a stained glass window depicting Catherine of Aragon and Henry. I wonder if she felt triumphant for supplanting the redundant Queen, perhaps aggrieved at the reminder of what had taken place before, or ‘perseverance’ to eradicate her predecessor completely from history. And what about Henry? Did he feel guilt as he knelt praying with his new wife in the technicolour presence of his previous, or was he self-assured that all the turmoil of the last few years was definitely worth it with Anne by his side and a child in the nursery. But was that enough?
In today’s terms, I would not want to see pictures of the ‘ex’ hanging around! I like to ponder on these things…