Enfield Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Elsyng; Elysing Palace; Worcesters

In the civil parish of Enfield.
In the historic county of London and Middlesex.
Modern Authority of London Borough of Enfield.
1974 county of Greater London.
Medieval County of Middlesex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ33809891
Latitude 51.67344° Longitude -0.06620°

Enfield Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The site of Elsynge Hall was excavated by the Enfield Archaeology Society in 1964. Findings include an external wall, presumed to be of the 15th century and a later structure with alterations and additions of circa 1540. These consist of a brick built drain and another wall. Traces of a moat were found but its extent is not yet known. Excavation in 1965 concentrated on the courtyard area and confirmed four structural phases for the site. Further excavation is planned for 1967 (none has been recorded by EAS from 1966-1975.) A gas pipeline trench has been cut through the remains of the Hall, about 100ft to the northeast of the 1963-66 excavation area. Elsings was a palatial house of Sir Thomas Lovell. He left it to his brother-in-law, Thomas Manners, who exchanged the house with the King for some monastic land in the Midlands in 1539. (PastScape)

Although repaired from 1542-3, on Edward VIs accession it was found to be ruinous. It was repaired, and many visits by Queen Elizabeth are recorded. From 1582, she no longer stayed at the house when visiting the chase, and in 1597 the house was reportedly in danger of collapse. In 1608 most of the house was carefully demolished, the materials being reused at Theobalds. The demolished part formed one side of a courtyard, and the rest was restored in 1609-10. However, the house was finally demolished shortly after 1656. (HKW)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1002040, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number lo59
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 405517.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLO20710.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Dearne, Martin J., nd, Elsyng: A Tudor Royal Palace in Enfield (Enfield Archaeological Society)
  Dearne, Martin J., 2004, Excavations at Elsyng Palace 2004 and follow up report and follow up report and follow up report and follow up report (Enfield Archaeological Society)
Books
- Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 79, 80, 81
  Jones, I. K. and Drayton, I.W., 1984, The Royal Palaces of Enfield (Enfield Archaeological Society Research Report No. 4)
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works, Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 87-9
  Baker, T.F.T. (ed), 1976, 'Enfield: Manors' VCH Middlesex Vol. 5 p. 224-9 online transcription
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 1 (London) p. 166-7 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Dinn, James and Reynolds, Susan, 1980, 'Excavations in Enfield, 1977-1979' Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Vol. 31 p. 110-115 download copy
  Jones, I. K. and Drayton, I.W., 1968, Enfield Archaeological Society Bulletin Vol. 28
  Jones, I. K. and Drayton, I.W., 1966, Enfield Archaeological Society Bulletin Vol. 20
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- DL44/235 (Survey of 17 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  DL44/351 (Survey of 26 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  DL44/451 (Survey of 32 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  DL44/475 (Survey of 33 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  DL44/927 (Survey of 11 James I) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Linford, N., 2000, Elsyng Palace, London Borough of Enfield Report on geophysical survey, September 2000 (Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 76/2000) online copy
  Bartlett, A.D.H., 1998, Site of Elsyng Palace, London Borough of Enfield, Report on Archaeogeophysical Survey 1998 (Bartlett-Clark Consultancy Report for English Heritage)

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It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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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