More information : 1.[Name centred TQ31618101]. SITE OF BRIDEWELL PALACE [AT]
['A' Name centred TQ31648104]. SITE OF GATE [AT] (1)
(17) BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL, on the W. side of New Bridge Street, is a modern building but contains from the old building a fireplace, now in the Court Room. (For further details see Inventory). (2)
When the Palace of Westminster was largely destroyed by fire in 1512, Henry VIII was left without a palace in London. To remedy this, in 1515 he began the construction of a new palace at Bridewell, on part of a site owned by Cardinal Wolsey. After Wolsey's fall in 1530, the King gained Whitehall, and Bridewell ceased to be a residence, but it was used for the attendance of favoured ambassadors. In 1522 the entourage of the Emperor Charles V stayed at Bridewell when the emperor visited Henry VIII. In 1556 Queen Mary bestowed the buildings on the City of London for the establishment of a workhouse for the vagrant poor. The whole of the southern portion, including the two towers overlooking the Thames, were destroyed in the Great Fire. The principal buildings formed a four-range structure arranged around a courtyard, with a smaller outer court on the east side. It was finally demolished in 1863-4. (3-4)
Thomas Wolsey built a house at Bridwell from 1510-15 which when he took up Hampton Court and York Place he transferred it to the king. Henry wanted a house between Westminster and the capital especially after Westminster Palace had earlier burnt down.
Bridewell was finally finished in 1523 and it consisted of two brick-built courtyards with a long gallery ending in a Watergate at the Thames. The royal lodgings were arranged around the three-storey inner courtyard (the king's on the south and the queen's on the north). These were entered by a grand processional staircase from the outer courtyard. The kitchens and gatehouse were on the north side of the outer courtyard and there was a long gallery (240 feet) which connected the inner court with Blackfriars. Bridewell had two innovative features: it was the first royal palace not to have a great hall and it also had a processional staircase, which was a feature that would be ever present in the king's later residences. (5)
Henry VIII built a new palace at Bridewell and the Emperor Charles V came to visit Henry and Catherine of Aragon. The Emperor did not lodge at the Blackfriars, but his entourage was entertained and lodged here.
A communication gallery was built from the palace over the Fleet River into the Blackfriars. Henry VIII occupied Bridewell frequently, and it was here that the court was assembled to debate the validity of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The King and Queen also lodged here whilst the question was being argued in the Hall at Blackfriars in 1529.
Edward VI alienated the palace and bestowed it on the City of London to be used as a house for the poor, and a place of confinement for idle and vicious vagrants. (6)
The City of London took full possession of the building in 1556 and converted the palace into a prison, hospital and workrooms and became known as Bridewell Royal Hospital and Bridewell Prison. The majority of the palace was rebuilt in 1666-1667 following its destruction in the Great Fire of London. The prison closed in 1855 and the buildings were demolished in 1863-1864. (7)
The National Grid Reference for the former site is: TQ3161381023 (8)
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