The Royal Kitchens were created to feed not only the King, but his entire court which could number up to 800 people. The Lord Stewart ran a staff of about 200 servants. The kitchens, to successfully accommodate this large number of workers as well as feeding the entire court, were strategically planned and laid out for maximum efficiency. The kitchen was divided into smaller rooms such as the Great Kitchens, the spicery (where herbs and spices were kept), the pastry house (which was responsible for making the pastry coffins), the confectory (responsible for sweet meats, custards, and other treats), the boiling house (with a 75 gallon copper cauldron was kept), the three larders (wet larder-stored fish, dry larder-stored grains, and the flesh larder-stored meat), and the minor kitchens.
The Great Kitchens had six large fireplaces. The ceilings were intentionally made high to let the intense heat escape. The floor was covered with flagstone and sloped for draining, much like modern restaurant kitchens.
The King, however, had his own private kitchen (known as the "Privy Kitchen") below his chambers. A greatly altered version of this kitchen is still in existence below the "Wolsey Closet."
Using the map as a guide, click on the corresponding number in the "Kitchen View Guide" to go to the view you wish to see.
Kitchen View Guide
7. Seventeenth Century Brick Oven Fireplace
8. Silver Room
9. Fish Court
10. Flesh Larder
11. Pastry House and Confectioner
12. Hallway
Court
The entrance to the kitchen has two doors as well as a window to pass food through. These two doors were probably used as an "in" and "out" door for the kitchen. It seems to reflect a modern restaurant kitchen. Liveried servers would pick up the finished dishes here and take them to the Great Hall.
This is the first of seven fireplaces in the Great Kitchen. This fireplace is located next to the Great "Wosley" fireplace and was used for making sauces. Stews were probably made here. Broth from the boiling house (where meat was boiled to make the broth) was transported here and used for the sauces.
Left: a view of the Saucer Fireplace between the entrance door and the Great "Wolsey" Fireplace
To the right of the Saucer fireplace is the Great "Wosley" Fireplace. It is the oldest and largest fireplace in the Great Kitchen. This fireplace was used for roasting meat.
Roasting meat was a sign of wealth in Tudor times. Most people ate their meat cured or smoke. However, roasting meant that time and fuel was put into preparing it, making it far more expensive.
The "Lord's Side Kitchen" was where delicacies heading to the tables of the highest members of the court in the Great Watching Chamber were prepared. Meat was also roasted here, but used much better ingredients for a variety of flavors.
The brick "bench" added to the fireplace was used for preparing meats and other foods for cooking. If needed, small fires using charcoal could be lit under the brick "bench" to keep food warm or heat pots for cooking broths, sauces, and other such things.
This area was also used to prepare delicate foods.. The long brick "bench" to the side of the fireplace was heated with charcoal, meaning there was a steady amount of heat but no smoke. It was used for heating pots, probably for making sauces and stews as well as heating delicate foods. The temperatures of the fires under this brick "bench" would have been far easier to control than the fire in the much larger fireplaces. The fireplace itself could be used for roasting, but for smaller game like poultry. Peacock was a favored delicacy at Henry VIII's banquets.
To the right: The wall across from the fireplace. The square cut outs show where floors used to be. These were removed in the 1970's.
In the 18th century, before Hampton Court was open to the public, those who found favor with the monarch by serving the crown and country in some extraordinary capacity were sometimes granted a "Grace and Favor" apartment in the palace. The palace was divided into many small apartments for these honored subjects free of rent. The square holes in the walls show where floors used to be making up some of these apartments.
This fireplace was converted during this time from a Tudor meat roasting fireplace to a more "modern" oven used to serve the Grace and Favor residents. In Tudor times, this part of the kitchen was known as the "hall-place kitchen." Delicacies were not prepared here. Rather this part of the kitchen was used for mass catering to the majority of the court to be served in the Great Hall.
To the left of the Grace and Favor Fireplace is the seventeenth century brick oven fireplace. Like the grace and favor fireplace, this fireplace was used for meat roasting in Tudor times, but later altered. In the seventeenth century a brick oven was installed. The fireplace was continually used for roasting meat. The seventeenth century roasting pikes can still be seen.
Above the fireplace are the remnants of the second floor, used for storage and later converted into Grace and Favor apartments. There were dismantled in the 1970's.
Above: Close up of the pikes used for roasting large game such as deer or boar.
The Silver Room was a storage room for table wear. The King and his family possessed very valuable table wear, made of gold and jewels, expertly crafted. Though the majority of the court did not eat on such finery, they did have to eat on something. The Silver room stored a large amount of table wear for the court, as well as serving dishes and other things needed for a banquet.
The name "Fish Court" comes from the Victorian Era, and is not original to the the space. Modern scholars are not sure what this court was originally called.
The "Fish Court" led to several other areas of the kitchens. The doors to the left led to the larders and boiling house, and the doors to the right led to the dry larder and minor kitchens. The door at the far end leads to the Great Kitchen.
The upstairs would have housed the Kitchen offices as well as providing the kitchen officials with a place to live. Today some of these rooms can be rented out by tourists for the night.
The Fish Court was not only used as a passage between rooms, but also as a temporary storage "fridge." Because this space was narrow, sunlight never reached the flagstones to heat them up. Also, during the winter the sun would not beat down on the snow in this area and not melt it. Thus, food kept here would stay cooler longer.
The Flesh Larder was for meat. Here, animals were cleaned so the meat could be taken to the main kitchens and cooked. Henry VIII was very fond of hunting, and would often supply his table and those who were favored with meat that he hunted. In one letter, for example, Henry VIII told Anne Boleyn he was sending her a stag he killed for her table in that day's hunt.
The pastry house and confectioner were used for making sweets. The pastry house made mostly pastry shells for pies. The confectionary was responsible for making sweet meats, custards, and other treats.
Sugar and other spices were extremely expensive in Tudor times. If you possessed them it meant that not only did you buy it but you paid for it to be shipped to you, sometimes from the other side of the world. These sugary treats were shaped into grand designs, generally featuring what was being celebrated at that particular banquet. For example, to celebrate St. George, the patron saint of England, confectioners would probably create a sugary George fighting a dragon, painted and sometimes even gilded with gold.
This hallway led from the kitchens to a stair where servants could go up and deliver food to the main rooms above.
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