Thursday 20 October 2011

Both Diana And Myself Enjoy Watching The Tudors,

one topic about the time that it is set in is Nonsuch Palace,


it was built by in 1538 by Henry VIII to celebrate the birth of his son, the future Edward VI, and outshine his rival, King Francois I of France, the good news was that was so grand that it inspired a foreign visitor to comment: ‘This which no equal has in art or fame, Britons deservedly do Nonsuch name,’ the bad news is that 1690 it had been completely dismantled by Charles II’s mistress, the Duchess Of Cleveland, who sold its raw materials to pay off her gambling debts, it was considered by many to be the grandest of all of Henry's palaces,


a friend of ours has just returned from it as his son had his wedding reception in the grounds of the palace which is in Cuddington near Ewell in Surrey, the park is comprised of The Great Park and The Little Park, Nonsuch park being a part of The Little Park, The Great Park was to the west of modern day London Road and covered about 911 acres - much of what is today Stoneleigh and Worcester Park, The Little Park was about 671 acres and was to the east of modern day London Road,

the model itself was made by Ben Taggart using his research as the basis for his 1:75 scale replica, now on display at the Friends of Nonsuch Museum, near Cheam, Surrey, the attention to detail is staggering, the model of Nonsuch was based on the research of Oxford University Professor Martin Biddle, who co-ordinated the first excavation on the Surrey palace’s site as an undergraduate in 1959, Professor Biddle, 74, said the model was ‘astonishing’, adding, ‘It has revolutionised the understanding of the nature of Nonsuch and leads us to know why it really was regarded by contemporaries as “that which has no equal”,’ such a pity that it was pulled down all of those years ago.

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