Sheen is the historic name for a royal palace in modern Richmond upon Thames and was renamed Richmond by Henry VII.
Sheen had long been royal property and Edward III had built himself a house there that became a favourite royal riverside retreat. The place was equally favoured by Richard II but he hysterically razed it to the ground after his wife died of plague there in 1394. Thus, when Henry V decided build a riverside retreat at Sheen in 1414 it was a new building but, as Edward III’s manor had sat within a moat, Henry decided to build part of his new residence inside the moat too. This new enterprise was designed to be a home for the Lancastrian dynasty in the hour of its triumph- a ’great work’, for the idea was to build a house around which would cluster three religious foundations dedicated to the king, his family and the nation.
There were two parts to the manor of Sheen: a large, mainly timber-framed, house with a great hall and chapel and rooms for the king and queen. Near to this, but surrounded by its own moat, was what we would call today a castle, this measured only around 140ft by 123ft – it was built of stone and had a small courtyard at its centre. This was the perfect retreat for a warrior king where he could withdraw from the main residence and be with his closest family and companions. Henry died suddenly in 1422 and his unfinished project was completed, in fits and starts, under Henry VI.
In the mid 1490s Henry VII started works to modernise the old buildings but, in 1497, the timber part of the manor was destroyed in a fire and Henry decided to remodel everything and make it his main country house. The Lancastrian stone tower was retained, modernised, and used as the king’s privy lodgings and attached to this Henry put up a new brick-built court. Entered through an outer gate, which still stands, visitors passed through the outer court, through a second, inner, gatehouse that led to the inner court. On one side of this stood the great hall and on the other the chapel royal. From here a bridge took you over the moat to the privy lodgings. To the east were extensive gardens and a small recreation centre that were linked to a house of Observant Friars. It was completed in 1501 just in time to play host to the lavish wedding reception given for Prince Arthur and Katharine of Aragon.
Henry VIII favoured Richmond less, particularly after he started developing Hampton Court, but it was amongst Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite residences and it was there that she died in March 1603. By James I time the house had begun to look a bit old fashioned and it was granted to his eldest son as his summer residence. Prince Henry of Wales had plans to develop the house which were begun – gardens were laid out, a tennis court built and some modernisation started in the privy lodgings. His early death stopped these and the house passed to his brother Charles. As King Charles granted Richmond to Henrietta Maria and it became the summer residence of his many children. It was sold during the Commonwealth and largely demolished. Only a few fragments survive today.