Transport yourself back to the heydey of Tudor cooking and entertainment
Transport yourself back to the heydey of Tudor cooking and entertainment
Updated 29 May. In line with government guidance, our palaces remain closed. We are working on detailed plans to safely re-open our sites, starting with our outdoor spaces. Thank you for your patience. Read our statement
Henry VIII's Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace were the largest of Tudor England. 200 cooks, sergeants, grooms and pages worked to produce over 800 meals a day for the hungry household of Henry VIII.
Feeding the court was a complex business all done without modern conveniences as 1.3 million logs burned in the hellish fires every year. From boiling cauldrons to roasting spits, join the day-to-day grind of Henry’s cooks as you pass through this labyrinth of kitchen spaces.
Between their construction in 1530 and the royal family’s last visit to Hampton Court Palace in 1737, the kitchens were a central part of palace life.
The Tudor kitchens were divided into a number of departments, each controlled by a Sergeant and a team of yeoman and grooms.
The Kitchen department where meat was roasted was under the control of three Master Cooks, one for the King, the Queen and the rest of the Court. These staff toiled under a complex set of rules determining which of the 1,200-odd members of Henry’s court qualified for meals as part of their pay.
Working in the kitchens could be a sweaty and dirty job. Henry VIII had to order the scullions to stop going about ‘naked, or in garments of such vileness as they do now, nor lie in the nights and days in the kitchen or ground by the fireside’.
A Spanish visitor to the Tudor court in 1554 said the kitchens were ‘veritable hells, such is the stir and bustle in them... there is plenty of beer here, and they drink more than would fill the Valladolid river.'
Henry VIII’s kitchens continued to be used for a further two hundred years, feeding the tables of Tudor, Stuart and Georgian monarchs and their many courtiers.
Experience the splendour of the Tudor court in Henry VIII's Great Hall, complete with his magnificent tapestries.
Open daily
Hampton Court Palace
Included in palace admission (members go free)
See the Bacton Altar Cloth, a rare survival of Elizabethan dress worn by Elizabeth I, and the iconic Rainbow Portrait at Hampton Court Palace.
Closed 23 February 2020
Hampton Court Palace
Included in palace admission (members go free)
Walk Henry VIII’s route from his private apartments to the Chapel and see the infamous Haunted Gallery in the State Apartments.
Open daily
Hampton Court Palace
Included in palace admission (members go free)
Feast your eyes on our wonderful selection of food inspired by our royal kitchen. Shop chocolates, preserves, jam, chocolate coins and the finest liqueurs.
From £3.99
Our gifts and souvenirs are are inspired by over 500 years of history from Hampton Court Palace.
From £4.99
Discover our decadent range of goblets and tankards inspired by our Historic Royal Palaces. The perfect gift for a medieval fan our goblets are made in a selection of leathers, glass and pewter.
From £17.99