Nonsuch Palace

MARTIN BIDDLE who excavated Nonsuch ONSUCH, ‘this which no equal has and its Banqueting House while still an N in Art or Fame’, was built by Henry undergraduate at Pembroke College, * Palace Nonsuch * VIII to celebrate the birth in 1537 of Cambridge, is now Emeritus Professor of Prince Edward, the longed-for heir to the Medieval Archaeology at Oxford and an English throne. Nine hundred feet of the Emeritus Fellow of Hertford College. His external walls of the palace were excavations and other investigations, all NONSUCH PALACE decorated in stucco with scenes from with his wife, the Danish archaeologist classical mythology and history, the Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, include Winchester Gods and Goddesses, the Labours of (1961–71), the Anglo-Saxon church and Hercules, the Arts and Virtues, the Viking winter camp at Repton in The Material Culture heads of many of the Roman emperors, Derbyshire (1974–93), St Albans Abbey and Henry VIII himself looking on with and Cathedral Church (1978, 1982–4, the young Edward by his side. The 1991, 1994–5), the Tomb of Christ in of a Noble Restoration Household largest scheme of political propaganda the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (since ever created for the English crown, the 1989), and the Church on the Point at stuccoes were a mirror to show Edward Qasr Ibrim in Nubia (1989 and later). He the virtues and duties of a prince. is a Fellow of the British Academy. Edward visited Nonsuch only once as king and Mary sold it to the Earl of Martin Biddle Arundel. Nonsuch returned to the crown in 1592 and remained a royal house until 1670 when Charles II gave the palace and its park to his former mistress, Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland. The keeper of Nonsuch at this time was George Lord Berkeley who with his family continued to live there on and off until the final demolition began in 1688. When the palace was excavated by Martin Biddle in 1959, many of the garderobe pits were found to be full of debris from the last years of the Berkeley occupation in the 1680s: glass vessels and tin-glazed ‘delft’ pottery, both of exceptional quality, stoneware, earthenware, glass ‘sack’ bottles, pewter, ironwork, and huge quantities of bird, fish, and mammal bones. Perhaps Martin Biddle the richest collection of domestic materials of the later seventeenth century ever recovered by archaeology from a single site — with ‘heirloom’ pieces dating back a century or more — these materials are illustrated and discussed in this volume by leading scholars, three of them former or present curators at the Victoria and Albert Museum. A window into the domestic life and material culture of a noble Restoration household, this book is a landmark in the development of Early Modern Archaeology and an essential work of reference for students and collectors of the material culture of seventeenth-century England. A volume on the art and architecture Nonsuch Palace from the north-east, of Henry VIII’s palace is in preparation. probably by Hendrick Danckerts c. 1666–79. Copyright Nonsuch Park Joint Management Committee. All Oxbow Books rights reserved Oxbow Books Nonsuch Palace from the north-east, probably by Hendrick Danckerts c. 1666–79. Copyright Nonsuch Park Joint Management Committee. All rights reserved Nonsuch Palace from the north-east, probably by Hendrick Danckerts c. 1666–79. Copyright Nonsuch Park Joint Management Committee. All rights reserved Nonsuch Palace Martin Biddle * * The Material Culture of a Noble Restoration Household Frontispiece. Fine vessel glass: Venetian goblet 1: p.238, Fig. 110 (1:1). Painted reconstruction by Jenny Stringer Nonsuch Palace Martin Biddle * * The Material Culture of a Noble Restoration Household With contributions by Michael Archer, D. R. Atkinson, C. Bradbury, R. Brownsword, June Chatfield, the late R. J. Charleston, Geoff Egan, Blanche Ellis, Alison R. Goodall, Ian H. Goodall, P. M. Gouk, Robin Hildyard, Alison Locker, Arthur MacGregor, F. R. Maddison, Catherine Mortimer, Hugh Pagan, the late J. H. Thornton, Jane Webster and Rosemary Weinstein Oxbow Books Published by Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK © Martin Biddle, 2005 ISBN 978-1-90018-834-0 A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library This book is published with the aid of a grant from English Heritage. English Heritage is now Historic England This book is available to download from http://books.casematepublishing.com/Nonsuch_Palace.pdf For IVOR NOËL HUME a founding father of Early Modern Archaeology on two continents THE NONSUCH PALACE EXCAVATION COMMITTEE † Sir John Summerson CBE, FBA (Chairman, 1959–1992) Professor Martin Biddle FBA (Secretary and Director, 1959–) † John Dent FLA (Treasurer, 1959–1972) † Miss J M I Griffiths FLA (Treasurer, 1974–1989) R.P. Brownjohn (1959–) (latterly Borough Engineer, Epsom and Ewell) Miss S.E. Butcher (1974–1980) (Ancient Monuments Inspectorate) † C.G. Cobbett (1959–1986) (Borough Engineer and Surveyor, Epsom and Ewell, Surveyor to the Nonsuch Park Joint Management Committee) Sir Howard Colvin CBE FBA (1959–) (Editor, The History of the Kings Works) Graham Hunter (1969–1974) (Curator, Bourne Hall Museum, Epsom and Ewell) † John Hurst FBA (1959–2003) (Ancient Monuments Inspectorate) P.H. Moore (1974–1985) Borough Engineer and Surveyor, Epsom and Ewell, Surveyor to the Nonsuch Park Joint Management Committee) † Philip Shearman FSA (1959–1989) (Surrey Archaeological Society and the Nonsuch Society) Arnold Taylor CBE, FBA (1959–1974) (Ancient Monuments Inspectorate) STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS OF THE NONSUCH PROJECT Assistant director (in charge of finds) Alan Millard (1959) Site supervisors Surveyors Peter Addyman (1959) Anthony Baggs (1959) Lawrence Barfield (1959–60) Martin Biddle (1960) Joan Collins (1960) R.P. Brownjohn (1959) Richard Fries (1959–60) John Haslam (1959) Colvin Greig (1959) Ann Hamlin (1959–60) Draughtsmen † Frances James (1959) Terry Ball (1959) Martin Morris (1960–1) Nicholas Griffiths (1973–8, 1982–94) Fabian Radcliffe O.P. (1959) John Pearson (1982–5) Colin Renfrew (1959) Jennifer Stringer (1990–3) Derek Roe (1959) Jeffrey Wallis (1988–3) John Saunders (1959) Research Assistants Finds supervisor Fiona Gale (1976–8) † Cedric Yardley (1959–63) Josephine Turquet (1974–9) Alison Tinniswood (1985–7) Photographers Tim Claydon (1987–9) Martin Biddle (1959) Jane Webster (1989–94) John Crook (1990–4) David C Haselden (1959–60) Stanislaus Witkowski (1960) CONTENTS List of colour plates.................................................................................................................................. xi List of figures ........................................................................................................................................... xii List of tables ......................................................................................................................................... xviii Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... xxi Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................xxiii PART I: INTRODUCTORY 1 General introduction by Martin Biddle .......................................................................................... 1 2 Methods of recording and study by Martin Biddle........................................................................ 5 PART II: CUDDINGTON 1 The excavation of Cuddington by Martin Biddle......................................................................... 14 2 The finds from Cuddington ............................................................................................................. 18 i. Pottery by Martin Biddle with commentary by Jacqui Pearce ................................... 18 ii. Jetton by Hugh Pagan........................................................................................................ 21 iii. Silver-gilt buckle pin by Martin Biddle .......................................................................... 21 iv. Window lead by Geoff Egan............................................................................................. 21 v. Copper-alloy by Alison H. Goodall................................................................................. 22 vi. Iron by Ian H. Goodall.......................................................................................................22 vii. Animal bone by Alison Locker ........................................................................................ 23 viii. Discussion by Martin Biddle ............................................................................................ 23 PART III: THE DOMESTIC MATERIAL FROM THE OCCUPATION OF THE PALACE AND BANQUETING HOUSE IN THE LATER SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1 The groups of finds and their dating by Martin Biddle ............................................................... 25 i. The cleanliness of the palace ............................................................................................ 25 ii. Garderobes and artefacts as evidence for the occupation of Nonsuch ..................... 36 viii CONTENTS iii. Dated and datable artefacts .............................................................................................. 37 iv. Date ranges and dating conventions used in the study of datable artefacts from the palace.................................................................................................................... 52 v. The

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