Hever Castle, St. Peter’s & St. Mary’s

Day 3

by Mike Glaeser

Walk to Hever Castle

My white shoes got to stay that way after all. Don’t know how it happened but we had blue skies with some clouds and sun mixed in. 71 degrees…excellent weather for walking around in the countryside. Getting to Hever Castle is a bit of a trek. After a 30 mile train ride, you get to walk the remaining two miles across farmland. Calm, relaxing and fun.

Hever Castle, as we all know, is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

It’s form and function was defined under 70 years of Boleyn family ownership. Also of note, Anne of Cleves, Henry’s fourth wife, was given the castle as part of her divorce settlement with the King. She held it until her death in 1557. While there are many more layers to the castle ranging from the 13th century gatehouse to the gardens installed by the Astor family, I only care about Tudor related things. So, in I went…

Hever Castle's drawbridge

After you pass under the (supposed) oldest working portcullis in England, you enter the inner courtyard that is covered in Tudor timberwork on all four sides. Thomas Boleyn added most of the Tudor dwelling within the walls between his inheritance of the property in 1505 and 1525. Up until that point, earlier owners lived in the large gatehouse as evidenced by the inclusion of garderobes.

The first room you enter is a sort of greeting chamber. Besides the actual walls, everything has been “Tudorised” by the Astors. For example, they used the organ screen at King’s College (more on that in a later entry) as inspiration for the wood panelling that lines the walls and columns. To get to the first real Tudor piece, you need to head over to the dining room. This was once the Great Hall that extended up to the roof. Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s courtier father, had the ceiling lowered in 1506 to make way for his long gallery above. While almost everything else in the room has been added later, you can still see one of Henry’s original locks on one of the doors. When the King went on progress, he carried around locks that were fit to doors in the rooms he occupied. Ever paranoid of diseases and assassinations he was.

Inner Courtyard Hever Castle

A short climb up a stone spiral staircase opens into Anne’s bedroom. Quite a small space but with a customary fireplace and nice windows overlooking what would have once most likely have been an orchard or woodlands. For the record, the bed head that is on display is a Victorian fake that was used to intrigue visitors when romanticism was resurgent in the 19^th century.

The largest collection of Tudor artifacts is found in the next room over. This room is assumed to have been one of the living areas for the Boleyn family. Now it contains two of Anne’s book of hours, both of which contain some of her iconic phrases: “Remember me when you do pray, that hope doth lead from day to day – Anne Boleyn”. It is said that she had this book with her at her execution, but I have yet to see a contemporary source that mentions her carrying any personal belongings to the scaffold. Also in the room are the halved coat of arms of the Boleyn – Howard and Boleyn – Henry Tudor. The notches in the shield indicate the family was at one point jousting champions.

Anne Boleyn, by an anonymous painter. Hever Castle, Kent.

Hever has the second most important collection of Tudor portraits after the NPG. Most of these can be found in the long gallery. Measuring the full distance of the castle, the gallery runs along the back section of the wall. Here is a great display of Henry’s wives as well as the King himself. When Henry visited Anne at Hever, he would preside over court from an elevated alcove in the far end corner. Today, stained glass depicting his arms marks the spot.

Because of the crowds on hand to watch the jousting festivities, I left a bit early having seen what I needed to see. I walked over to St. Peter’s church, which I had all to myself. While a church has been on the site since the Norman invasion, the current building is mostly late 18th, early 19th century. This can be seen in the two stained glass windows. The one in the Bullen chapel has three columns going straight up (standard for the time) while the main window has its columns fluted at the top. Above the rector’s desk, one can find the Bullen arms emblazoned in stained glass. Yes, Bullen does equal Boleyn. Apparently the name changed because of the excessive time the family spent in France. The English version does help explain why the coat of arms features a bull’s head.

Hever Church

In the Bullen chapel is the tomb of Sir Thomas Boleyn. His brass is one of only two that depicts the bearer in full Knight of the Garter regalia. Nearby is the brass of Henry, an infant son of Thomas and Elizabeth who died young. Now it was time to say farewell to Hever until next year. I had a play to catch in London.

Upon my return, I did have some extra time and thus headed over to St. Mary’s church, which sits next to Lambeth Palace. It was decommissioned in 1972 and is now the Garden History museum. To us Tudor fans, it is the burial place of many Howards including Anne’s mother Elizabeth.

Lambeth Palace c. 1685

I met with Phillip, a volunteer who does a lot of historical work with archives and excavations. He was kind enough to show me the Howard family chapel which now really is a coffee shop. Somewhere below the wooden floor lies Elizabeth. Do take note; there are plans to build up more of the garden museum around the Howard chapel. Before they do that, there is talk of doing some excavations. While this is still two or three years down the road, we may finally get our answers in due time. The Victorians (argh why?) decided the church wasn’t flamboyant enough and had a pitched roof installed to replace the medieval version. This is why the chapel’s supporting columns are not parallel to each other. They also took all the memorials they thought looked good and placed them in the Howard chapel. Thankfully, they did keep several important brasses that you can see if you ask nicely.

In talking with Phillip, I found out that he was part of the team that worked on excavations of the Howard’s house in Lambeth, which is now occupied by the Novotel Hotel (or something sounding like that). I actually received a full photocopy of the excavation report that shows layouts, findings, etc. I can’t wait to go through it. To my surprise, he took me outside to a bunch of bricks and told me to pick one. Turns out he kept several of the Tudor foundation stones from the Howard house to ensure they weren’t destroyed! So, I now possess an over 500 year old Tudor brick that is tied to one of the most influential families of that era! Got a story for customs now…

The last event of the day was the Howard Brenton play: “Anne Boleyn”. While some may not like the story focusing on Anne being a hardcore Lutheran, the play is absolutely fantastic! It is a must see in my book. Great acting by Miranda Raison and even more so by James Garnon who played an eccentric King James. If you are in London during one of its showings, definitely check it out.

So ends Day 3 of this summer progress. Very memorable day, which even saw me hand out quite a few Team Boleyn cards. With it being 12:30 am, it’s time to go to bed, as I’ll be calling my first audible of this trip tomorrow. The change of plans will now see me head over to Bosworth Battlefield…where the Tudor dynasty began.

Click here to see Mike’s photos!

To read more about Tudor Hever read A Journey Back in Time to the Real Childhood Home of Anne Boleyn.