Nonsuch Palace

views updated Jun 11 2018

Nonsuch Palace a Tudor palace near Cheam in Surrey, built by Henry VIII. It was not completed until 1557, but the name is first mentioned in the Exchequer Accounts for 1538. In the 17th century, the English Catholic priest Richard Lassels (1603?–68), in his posthumously published The Voyage of Italy, referred to Fontainebleau as ‘the Nonsuch of France’. Nonsuch Palace was demolished in 1670.

Nonsuch palace

views updated May 17 2018

Nonsuch palace near Cheam in Surrey was built on a grand scale round two courtyards by Henry VIII from 1538 onwards, sold by Mary, and repurchased in 1592 by Elizabeth. In the 17th cent. it belonged to Henrietta Maria, who reoccupied it at the Restoration. After her death Charles II gave it to his mistress the duchess of Cleveland, who had it demolished in 1682.

J. A. Cannon