Anne Boleyn: Did 'It' Happen at the Vyne?

Hi it's Sarah the Tudor travel guide here and today as you can see I am visiting the Vine in Hampshire, once one of the most glorious renaissance houses in the county. Now in a moment I'm going to be telling you about one of the most important royal visits to this spectacular house. But first let me tell you a little bit about the history of the house. Well the house you can see today, the fragment of it that remains was built by William Sands around 1515 at a time when many glorious renaissance houses were being built including of course the likes of Hampton Court Palace. Now this house was noted by Leyland in 1542 to be one of the most significant in all of Hampshire. Indeed it was a glorious renaissance house. There were many ranges built around several courtyards including a spectacular inner courtyard around which were arranged the privy lodgings. Now the privy lodgings of course were used by the Lord and Lady of the Manor but when there were royal visitors these were ceded to the King and Queen and that's exactly what happened here at the Vine when Henry VIII visited first with Catherine of Aragon but later with Anne Boleyn as part of the historic summer progress of 1535. Now that summer progress would be Anne Boleyn's last on earth. The couple set off from Windsor in July of that year and they meandered through the counties of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and then of course arriving here at the Vine on the return leg of their journey heading back towards Windsor Castle. Now the couple stayed here as guests of Sir William Sands who of course later became Baron Sands. He was Henry VIII's Lord Chamberlain so a very important man at court. They would have been lodged as I mentioned before in the privy lodging surrounding the inner courtyard. Now what you can see behind me is only a third of what once comprised the entire mansion here at the Vine. We have fragments of what would have been William Sands room and those rooms of course would have been used by Henry VIII during his stay. We have a fragment of a spectacular long gallery which truly is one of the highlights of the house. It is in fact covered in ornate wooden carved panelling and if you look closely at the panelling you'll see it's a who's who of Tudor England. If you come and visit you must look out for the carved pomegranates and castles of Catherine of Aragon or maybe you can see the initials T.W. and the Cardinal's hat relating to Thomas Wolsey. What you won't find here are any symbols relating to Anne Boleyn. It's probably fair to say that William Sands was more of a supporter of Catherine although of course he must have been gracious to his hosts and Henry's second wife when she arrived here but one does wonder how they managed to cover up those carved emblems of Catherine of Aragon during Anne's stay. Now unfortunately part of the long gallery has been lost but we do have a significant segment of it and it is as I mentioned one of the highlights of the house. Be sure to look out for an ornate carving the royal coat of arms that sits above a doorway just as you enter the long gallery. That was once the entrance to William Sands chambers and were those very rooms that would have been used by Henry VIII during his stay here. The other notable survivor from the vine is its chapel. You can see the chapel actually at the far end of this range of buildings. It has a very distinctive Tudor style. Now like much of the vine large parts of its interiors have been modernised over time but this chapel was very much here during the 16th century and would have been visited by the likes of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon Anne Boleyn and indeed later Elizabeth I would visit. If you want to explore some of the authentic features of the chapel then make sure you look out for the choir stalls which are Tudor in origin and also the magnificent stained glass in the east window of the chapel. If you look carefully you might recognise some of the figures. In fact we see Henry VIII about 30 years of age kneeling and accompanied by his name saint Henry of Bavaria. We can also see Catherine of Aragon with her saint Saint Catherine and finally Margaret Tudor who is accompanied by Saint Margaret of Antioch. Now that stained glass wasn't always here at the vine it was actually commissioned by William Sands and installed in the chapel of the Holy Ghost in a town nearby to here called Basingstoke. It was probably moved from the chapel when it was destroyed during the civil war and brought here to the vine a very very fitting final home for it. And before you leave the chapel make sure you turn around and look up because you will see the private gallery that would have been used by William Sands and of course the royal couple when they were here in the vine. It kept them separate from the riffraff and the rest of the household so that they could hear the service in private. Now we've come over to the other side of the house. I wanted to tell you about a very important event associated with that 1535 progress which may well have happened here at the vine. Well as we know from contemporary accounts there are lots of reports of the king and queen being merry in Hampshire during the course of this progress and when they came here to the vine on the 15th of October in that year. Well if we calculate back from Anne's final miscarriage in January 1536 then in fact we find Anne and Henry possibly here at the vine or at nearby Basing house when she may well have conceived for the final time. Now of course when Anne miscarried at the end of January of the following year 1536 it was as Chapuis said the miscarriage of her saviour and just within a few short months she would be arrested along with the other five men that were accused along with her of adultery and treason. But it's poignant if you are indeed a lover of Anne Boleyn to come here and imagine her indeed merry with Henry because in what a little over seven eight months time she would be dead. This would be Anne Boleyn's final summer on earth which was fast drawing to a close. Now you may be asking what indeed happened to the house well of course over time this large sprawling rambling mansion fell into a degree of disrepair of course they were very difficult to upkeep later owners demolished parts of the house other parts were remodeled and as I mentioned only about a third of the building still survives in fact much of the inner courtyard lies underneath the lawn that you can see here behind me. However let's be grateful that just a fragment of that wonderful Tudor mansion still survives here the house is managed by the National Trust and so I encourage you if you want to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon or indeed Elizabeth I and see some splendid Tudor interiors then do put the vine on your map. Okay that's Sarah sharing a little bit about the story of the vine and the 1535 progress. I look forward to seeing you on our next road trip. Bye for now!