Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Question from Kylie - Henry VIII's Hunting Lodge on Newington Green

Hi

I'm a student journalist doing some research on King Henry VIII's hunting lodge which used to stand on Newington Green in Mildmay, Islington, London.
Local lore has it that he kept his mistresses at the hunting lodge. I'm trying to find out if this is true and whether either Boleyn sister was likely to have resided there.

Any help on this would be much appreciated.
thanks
Kylie

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been monitoring this post, hoping someone would know some interesting information. It certainly is thought that Henry conducted his affairs at his hunting lodges, where he could only take a small number of servants and courtiers due to the size of the building. I don't know of any primary sources confirming this though, except for in Farnham and Greenwich, and these I believe were small castles rather than hunting lodges. He also used the London residences of his close friends.

As to whether he took Anne there, quite possibly, but as his virgin fiancee, along with others, including her mother, who was her constant chaperone until around the time of their marriage. It is unlikely they used it for secret rendezvouses as she seems to have been anxious to keep him at arm's length until he married her.

As to Mary, they are thought to have had a relationship of around three years. Therefore it is likely that they met up in various places, including hunting lodges, but there is no known link to any particular lodge and so that is just speculation. I would have thought a hunting lodge would be the perfect place to keep a mistress who did not have a palce at court, and although we have no record of Henry with a commoner as his mistress, it is likely that he did at some point.

There is also the story of Andrew Flammock and Henry discussing a lady he kept in a park. Flammock apparently offended Henry by making a joke as Henry was composing romantic poems for her. We have no idea where this park was.

You will struggle to find historic evidence, I fear. If you do, share it with us. But it is likely, if he used the hunting lodge, that he and his friends would have brought women there. However, I have never heard mention of this lodge.

Anonymous said...

I have an e-mail from a chap who lived in Newington Green Road between the 40's and 50's. He told me that Henrys' Hunting Lodge was used as a Geriatric Hospital until is was demolished in the 50's and said that Heathersage was built on the site. How true this is I don't know but there maybe something in it