Where did the Court stay during Anne’s time?
Henry VIII went on summer progresses throughout his reign, between July and October, visiting different places, giving alms etc. but I have as yet been unable to find out where he went with Anne.
Eric Ives talks of how Henry and Anne moved around 30 times a year on average. P246 of Eric Ives' "The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn talks of their movements and says that the couple stayed in the larger Royal palaces from winter to early spring and then undertool Royal progresses in the summer and early autumn, within a hundred mile radius of London, staying at smaller Crown properties and properties owned by the Church or people they knew.
Henry VIII divided the rest of his time between the Royal palaces that he had built, taking his court with him. Henry's main residences during the Anne Boleyn era were Greenwich Palace and Park ( a favourite residence at that time and where Elizabeth was born), Hampton Court Palace (which had once belonged to Wolsey and which documents show that Anne and Henry added to), Whitehall Palace (York Place -which Anne helped him redesign), Windsor and Richmond. Anne and Henry were married at Whitehall, in the gatehouse that they had built.
Hi – just to add to this. Two places Henry and Anne visited when on Royal Progress were:
Late Summer 1535 – Wulf Hall. This was *before* Henry became enamoured of Jane Seymour but maybe where he first met her. He visited Wulf Hall due to her brother Sir Edward Seymour being (among other things) an Esquire of the King’s Body to Henry VIII and therefore definitely in his “inner circle”.
(PS – I know this one as I am researching Edward and Anne Seymour for an historical re-enactment in a months time (starts 21st June and lasts 3 weeks) where I am playing the role of Lady Anne Seymour and my husband is Sir Edward. We will be at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk with a reduced household of staff and cousins).
Another place H and A visited was Acton Court (http://www.actoncourt.com/history/index.html). Again, this was in 1535. The house was owned by Nicholas Pointz (http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/images/Poyntz,Nicholas02.jpg).
It may be that both these visits were part of the long 1535 tour of the West Country.
Hope that helps.
Elizabeth.
It seems that Henry V111 and Anne Boleyne visited Portchester Castle (my home town)
Excerpt;
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were at Portchester in October, 1535. ‘The king and queen were very merry in Hampshire,’ (fn. 59) and hawked daily. The last royal visitor was Elizabeth, who held her court at the castle. (fn. 60) From this time the story of Portchester Castle is that of a military prison and hospital.
From: ‘Parishes: Portchester’, A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3 (1908), pp. 151-161.
Source; URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41948 Date accessed: 23 January 2011.
Henry and Anne Boleyn spent 10 days at Thornbury Castle in 1533. It is documented evidence and clearly written on the Thornbury Castle website under the history section. Mary Tudor also lived there at one time.
They visited a few tiny villages just outside Stroud, esp Leonard Stanley. The church has tiny plaque commemorating their visit to look at the closed down priory. The Church is exactly the same today as they saw it. Only one wall is left of the priory (now a farm shed!).