Ashridge palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Ashridge House

In the civil parish of Little Gaddesden.
In the historic county of Hertfordshire.
Modern Authority of Hertfordshire.
1974 county of Hertfordshire.
Medieval County of Hertfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP993123
Latitude 51.79949° Longitude -0.55986°

Ashridge palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Country house, now a management college. 1808-1814 by James Wyatt (d.1813) completed by his nephew Jeffry Wyatt (Sir Jeffry Wyattville after 1824) for 7th Earl of Bridgewater, sold 1921 and became The Bonar Law Memorial College, and after 1954 Ashridge Management College. The house incorporates remains of a College of Bonhommes founded 1283 which became a royal residence after its dissolution in 1539 until sold by Elizabeth in 1575 and acquired by Egerton family in 1604 (Listed Building Report)

The manor remained in the possession of the college until its suppression in 1538–9, and after the Dissolution became annexed to that of Little Gaddesden, (Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 3, m. 27) with which it passed to Lord Ellesmere.
Edward VI and Elizabeth seem to have spent a considerable part of their childhood at Ashridge, (L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix (2), 726 and 794
) and Browne Willis states that Edward VI was nursed here. Todd suggests that the western avenue, which is called the Prince's Riding, may have taken its name from him (Todd 31). He and Elizabeth were living there in 1543, when Mary, their sister, was brought there for the benefit of her health. (Cusson 138) After the coronation of Mary, Elizabeth retired to Ashridge, (Cal. of S.P. Dom. 1547 80, pp. 29 and 60
) and was living there when she was arrested and summoned to London on the charge of being implicated in Wyatt's rebellion.
In a survey of Ashridge made in 1560, it is stated that though, since the first year of the reign of Elizabeth, £55 3s. 8d. had been expended in repairs, the house was still so far out of repair that 300 marks would not make it fit for the queen's residence. A good part of the building was falling down, 'namely the lodging that Master Treasurer lay in, which was accounted the fairest lodging of the house, next where the Queen's Highness lay.' (S.P. Dom. Eliz. xii, No. 38) (VCH)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1348442
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 520612.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1074; 4148.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
  Ashridge Business School
  Ashridge Timeline
Books
- Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 50, 81-2, 163
  RCHME, 1910, An inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire (London: HMSO) p. 143 no. 2 online transcription
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Hertfordshire Vol. 2 p. 209-11 online transcription
  Cussans, J.E., 1879, History of Hertfordshire: History of the hundreds of Dacorum and Cashio (Chatto) p. 138
  Todd, Henry John, 1823, The History of the College of Bonhommes, at Ashridge, in the County of Buckingham (R.Gilbert) p. 31
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- John Cook, nd, Ashridge House (The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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