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Headline: RAW VIDEO: Amateur Historians Find Long Lost Tudor Palace In Northamptonshire Village
Caption: A group of amateur historians from a Northamptonshire village have unearthed a long-lost royal Tudor palace in the area. Today, Collyweston is a sleepy English village with a nature reserve and of course, the traditional pub. Yet 500 years ago it played host to royalty as home to Henry VIII’s grandmother Margaret Beaufort. The palace even hosted a major Tudor event in 1503 when Henry VIII’s sister Margaret Tudor visited the palace for a party before heading north to join her future spouse James IV of Scotland. However, in the 17th Century the palace began to fall into disrepair - and was lost and consigned to local legend until a group of intrepid locals set out to find it again. The Collyweston Historical and Preservation Society (CHAPS) had long sought to establish the location of the palace, drawing on publicly available sources and local hearsay for their research. Despite starting with an initial budget of under £1,000, the CHAPS team narrowed down their search and finalised a plan to hunt for the palace in 2018. Chris Close, the chairperson of the group, said: “Local hearsay was always saying there’s an area here called ‘the palace gardens’ and everyone had their own independent views as to where we’d found this palace, but nobody had an idea of how big it was.” What they found surprised the amateur historians - as they discovered a huge complex that would have been one of the mega-mansions of its day. “You think this is just a mini-stately home and it turns out to be a complex of buildings which is over a thousand paces all the way around the outside,” Close added. Excavations began in 2018, but paused for the Covid pandemic, with the Society using the enforced shutdown to use Ground-penetrating Radar and Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) to provide a more comprehensive picture of possible excavation sites. Inspired by their shoestring budget, the CHAPS team attempted to get the most out of their resources and local enthusiasm to gradually build up a picture of the prospective palace site. “Us being so naive on the whole project it’s kind of been a blessing - as if someone told us we needed to raise £30,000 to £40,000 we’d probably never have started,” Close explained. He continued: “We started off the project with some very basic research. Then we got some very basic geophys done. The results weren’t that clear but they gave us something to go on. Then we did a bit of archaeology. We had people clambering to do that for free for us, so it didn’t cost us much to get started.” The breakthrough occurred earlier this year when a dig found walls the CHAPS team were certain formed part of the palace. Findings subsequently confirmed by experts from the University of York. However, Close says there wasn’t a Eureka moment where they suddenly realised they had achieved their aim of finding the palace. “Because we’re all brought up on (the TV show) Time Team, you think these jobs are done in three days,” he explained. “It doesn’t work like that. You think Friday you start the project, Saturday you discuss it in the pub and Sunday here’s a full-rendered version. “What it’s taught us is that there’s a number of different layers associated with this projects. We’ve got our initial research, programmes like Lidar and Ground-penetrating radar, then the detailed stuff, then the archaeology, and it all has to come together to tell us the story of each area of this palace.” The palace boasts a past to rival many historic Tudor sites - having hosted at least three Tudor monarchs. “When Henry VII won the Battle of Bosworth, Lady Margaret Beaufort was gifted the site,” Close revealed. “In 1503 there was a big shindig at Collyweston. So all the great and the good came, because Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret was being sent off to Scotland to marry James IV and they had a two week party at Collyweston. It was on the basis of that she got lots of new building work done to try and show off. That’s where Henry said goodbye to her at Collyweston.” The site also has associations with the two most famous Tudor monarchs - Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. “Henry VIII came here in 1541 along with Catherine Howard and Elizabeth I came and had Privy Councils here during her time and added some more buildings - including a banqueting hall,” he added. “We’ve still not found that by the way. We’ve got a banqueting hall to find. So there’s lots went on here.” The amateur team hope to continue excavations next year - when the hunt will be on for the Elizabethan banqueting hall, and any artefacts left behind. As for why the Tudors chose to spend time there, Close said it has all the natural attributes needed for a Tudor retreat. “The area’s got all the basic building blocks really,” he said. “It’s got natural springwater that breaks out in several places across the valley. The palace site is one of them. It’s got natural stone from Ketton. It’s got Collyweston slate. It’s got lots of forest, a 180 acre deer park, the River Welland for fish and fish ponds. It’s got all the bits you could need.” The palace’s glory days ended in the 17th Century, however, as fashions changed and the estate was bought in the mid-18th Century by the Tryon family - who built their own residences rather than stay in the now decaying palace. The Tryon family included William Tryon, a British governor of North Carolina and New York - who attempted to kidnap George Washington during the American War of Independence. Now the palace’s glory days are set to be remembered once again, thanks to Chris, his organising committee Sandra Johnson, Paul Johnson, Sarah Baker, Linda Ball, and Debby Guthrie. Plus archaeologist Gary Coates and historian Dr Rachel Delman, who also lent their expertise to the project.
Keywords: collyweston,tudors,henry viii,feature,photo,video,kings,royals,history,archaeology,news
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