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Top Attractions in East Molesey

Hampton Court Park

Hampton Court Park – sometimes called the Home Park – is adjacent to Hampton Court Palace and Gardens in South London, United Kingdom, mostly lying within East Molesey, with a smaller area in Kingston upon Thames. Hampton Court Park is a royal park, but not one of the eight Royal Parks of London because it is the site of a Palace. It is managed by the Historic Royal Palaces. In September 2014 part of it was designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest together with Bushy Park and Hampton Court Golf Course as Bushy Park and Home Park SSSI. It is a walled deer park of around 700 acres in area and has been open to the public since 1894. The A308 road and the River Thames form its boundaries. North of the A308 is the better-known Bushy Park. The Royal Mews still graze some of their horses on the park during the summer months. One of the main features of the park is the Long Water which runs roughly eastward from the back of Hampton Court Palace. At the eastern end is the Golden Jubilee Fountain.

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, in the historic county of Surrey, and within the postal town East Molesey, Surrey. It has not been inhabited by the British Royal Family since the 18th century. The palace is 11.7 miles south west of Charing Cross and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Redevelopment began to be carried out in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the King seized the palace for himself and later enlarged it. Along with St. Jamess Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII. In the following century, King William IIIs massive rebuilding and expansion project was intended to rival Versailles. Work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque. While the palaces styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a symmetrical, if vague, balancing of successive low wings. Today, the palace is open to the public and is a major tourist attraction, easily reached by train from Waterloo Station in central London and served by Hampton Court railway station in East Molesey, in Transport for Londons Zone 6. In addition, London Buses routes 111, 216, 411 and R68 stop outside the palace gates. The structure and grounds are cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown. Apart from the Palace itself and its gardens, other points of interest for visitors include the celebrated maze, the historic real tennis court, and the huge grape vine, the largest in the world as of 2005. The palaces Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Bushy House

Bushy House is a Grade II* listed former royal residence in Teddington in South West London, on the site of the National Physical Laboratory, overlooking Bushy Park. Bushy House and 30 acres of surrounding Bushy Park land were proposed as a site for the National Physical Laboratory in 1900 after concerns about flooding of the previously proposed site in the Old Deer Park. The ground floor and basement levels of Bushy House were converted to laboratory space and Richard Glazebrook, the first director of NPL, and later other directors, used part of the building as private accommodation. Today, Bushy House still contains a number of laboratories, two small museums that mainly contain old scientific equipment and several rooms used for meetings and conferences. Historic England. "Bushy House ". National Heritage List for England.

Hampton Court Maze

Hampton Court Maze is a hedge maze planted some time between 1689 and 1695 by George London and Henry Wise for William III of Orange at Hampton Court Palace. The maze covers a third of an acre and contains half a mile of paths. It is possible that the current design replaced an earlier maze planted for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. It was originally planted with hornbeam, although it has been repaired using many different types of hedge. The maze is in 60 acres of riverside gardens. It has been described by many authors, including Defoe, and the humorist Jerome K. Jerome, who wrote in Three Men in a Boat: "Well just go in here, so that you can say youve been, but its very simple. Its absurd to call it a maze. You keep on taking the first turning to the right. Well just walk round for ten minutes, and then go and get some lunch." ...Harris kept on turning to the right, but it seemed a long way, and his cousin said he supposed it was a very big maze. "Oh, one of the largest in Europe", said Harris. "Yes, it must be", replied the cousin, "because weve walked a good two miles already!" Harris began to think it rather strange himself, but he held on until, at last, they passed the half of a penny bun on the ground that Harriss cousin swore he had noticed there seven minutes ago. Jerome exaggerates the hazards of the maze. The maze has relatively few places at which the path forks and at all but one fork the wrong choice led to a dead end at the end of a short corridor. There are many larger and more elaborate mazes nowadays. Recently, three new forking places have introduced more possibilities of walking closed loops within the maze. The maze can still, as Harris stated, be threaded from entrance to centre and back by the method of always remaining in contact with the wall on ones right. This method guides the traveller into some dead ends and is thus not the shortest path. Topologically, this is a depth first search algorithm. In 2006, arts group Greyworld were commissioned to create a permanent artwork for the maze. Their installation, a sound work triggered by hidden sensors embedded in the maze walls, is titled Trace. The maze has also been mentioned in Carol Shields Larrys Party.

Ash Island

Ash Island is a forested, drop-shaped island in the River Thames in England, across the weir of Molesey Lock within Greater London on its border. In the same way as Hampton Court, Ash Island's post town is East Molesey and the island is administratively within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The main weir is at the downstream end of the island connecting to the lock; the second weir is at the upstream end and connects to the Hampton Court bank. Consequently there is a difference of several feet in the water level surrounding the island. The island is privately owned and has a boatyard on side towards the lock, and moorings on the lower side. Most of the island is densely covered in trees, its maximum length is 236m, maximum width 90m and it is 25m downstream of Tagg's Island.

Diana Fountain

The Diana Fountain in Bushy Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a seventeenth-century statue ensemble and water feature in an eighteenth-century setting with a surrounding pool and mile long tree lined vistas which honors the Roman Goddess Diana. Originally created for Somerset House in the 1630s, and remodelled about 1690, the fountain has stood since 1713 in Bushy Park, and now forms a large traffic island in Chestnut Avenue. It is the focal point of two major vistas designed by Sir Christopher Wren, including Chestnut Avenue which is the ceremonial landward approach to Hampton Court Palace. The traffic island is circular and contains a 400-foot diameter pool surrounded by lawns, with the Diana statue on a tall base in the middle of the pool. The fountain was listed as Grade II in 1952, and in February 2011 reclassified as Grade I.

Royal Tennis Court, Hampton Court

The Royal Tennis Court, Hampton Court Palace is a real tennis court which was built for Henry VIII of England, who played there from 1528, and is still home to an active tennis club. During the 17th century various improvements were made to the court. One of the first acts of Charles II after his restoration in 1660 was to order the extensive refitting of the Tudor tennis court. This included the laying of a new tile floor, the remodelling of the galleries and repairs to the roof. At the same time, new nets, curtains and velvet cushions for the spectators seats were provided. The interlaced initials above the net on the wall opposite the corridors are, however, not those of Charles but of William and Mary . Since the end of the 17th century the court has undergone little alteration. However, progress is not incompatible with history: in 1975 sodium halide lighting was installed.

The Old Court House

The Old Court House is an 18th-century Grade II* listed house located off Hampton Court Green in Richmond upon Thames in south west London whose origins date back to 1536. The architect Sir Christopher Wren, who lived there from 1708 to 1723, was given a 50-year lease on the property by Queen Anne in lieu of overdue payments for his work on St Pauls Cathedral. The lease passed from Wrens son to his grandson. It was purchased from the Crown Estate in 1984. King Henry VIII obtained the newly built Hampton Court Palace from Cardinal Wolsey in 1526. From that time onwards, all the property around Hampton Court also became the property of the Monarch and this included The Old Court House. It is the only house on Hampton Court Green, other than Hampton Court itself, to have a garden that stretches to the River Thames. Wrens dining room is now used as a study. This beautifully proportioned room features wood panelling chosen by Wren and a fine marble fireplace similar to the one he installed for King William III in the Kings dining room in Hampton Court Palace. Beyond the reception hall, a flight of stone steps take you into the garden which leads right down to the Thames. In Wren’s day his most important visitors – normally royalty – would arrive by river, walk across the garden and up those steps to enter his house via the back door. This meant the garden had to be just as magnificent as the house. The building is accordingly surrounded by several different types of tree and copious bushes bursting with figs, walnuts, apples, crab apples, cherries, raspberries, mint and borage. The greenery extends all the way to the river bank while York stone terraces lead to a pea shingle path which is flanked by lawn. This path then leads to a pond and fountain that was built by Wren and which was listed before The Old Court House itself. Wren’s tool house is now a charming garden room from which to enjoy the garden in the summer. In 1669 Wren was appointed as the Royal Surveyor by King Charles II. He ordered the Kings works at all of the palaces; Hampton Court, Greenwich, St James Palace and Windsor Castle. Wren held this post for 49 years until 1718 straddling 5 reigns; Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II, Anne and George I whilst at the same time building many city churches, including St Pauls Cathedral. At each palace the Royal Surveyor had lodgings. At Hampton Court these were The Old Court House. Wren undertook extensive renovations of The Old Court House in 1706. In 1708 Queen Anne granted him a 50-year lease on the property in lieu of overdue payments for his work on St Pauls Cathedral. In 1749 his grandson Stephen Wren sold the remainder of the lease. Towards the end of World War I until 1921 The Old Court House was the temporary site of the Hampton Court Auxiliary Hospital which had been started by the British Red Cross and the Order of St. John to nurse wounded soldiers . Subsequent lessees included Admiral Sir Alexander Montgomery, the Dowager Lady Clinton and General Sir Henry Wheatley. Norman Lamplugh, a distinguished collector lived at the house from 1908 to 1938 . He was followed by the 2nd Earl of Ypres who was a water colour painter. He was the son of 1st World War Field Marshal Sir John French who became the 1st Earl of Ypres. In 1958 a new Crown Estates lease began. In 1968 the remaining lease of 89 years was bought by Toby Jessel . In 1984 The Crown Estates department sold the freeholds to many leaseholders of houses around Hampton Court, Greenwich, St James and Windsor including The Old Court House, the freehold to which was acquired by Mr Jessel. In 1996 English Heritage marked Wren at the Old Court House with a blue plaque.
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