Image: The More plan, based on a 1568 written description and excavation; H. Colvin, History of the King’s Works iv/2, fig. 16 ( Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office courtesy of the Open Government License Agreement)
Acquired: 1531
The More was a lavish manor house owned by the abbey of St. Albans when Cardinal Wolsey held the abbacy there. Henry VIII visited the More on several occasions. When Wolsey fell from favor, Henry pressured his successor to give up the property, and himself continued building there. He visited often and the Privy Council also met there frequently.
The building accounts ennumerate multiple projects, including the creation of a separate king’s and queen’s suites of rooms in the inner courtyard, the decoration of galleries, and much plasterwork and gilding. The manor fell into decline under Henry’s heirs and the property was leased to the earl of Bedford by the end of the century; he built a new mansion, which presently stands on a hill southwest of the medieval house complex, of which there are no traces left above ground.
*Click here to see the women vendors that worked at this site.