Images: royal manor of Woodstock, date unknown. (Photos courtesy http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/articles/2007/10/17/glyme_feature.shtml and https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3665844)
Acquired: 1509
Woodstock was a royal manor dating back to pre-Norman times. Henry VII had undertaken significant works at Woodstock to update the palace, so building under Henry VIII was mostly limited to small repairs. The structures appear to have been primarily of brick and timber, with an inner court and a great outer court, both adorned by gatehouses and containing lodging ranges. Descriptions from the sixteenth century note that the outer court had a fountain with five spouts, provided by an extensive conduit system, and a ceremonial flight of 35 steps leading to the hall; to the left was a “neat & stately, rich Chappel” (Colvin, 352). There were also gardens, a gallery and a tennis play.
After Henry’s reign, Princess Elizabeth lived here for a time under house arrest by order of her sister Queen Mary. It continued as a royal residence until the Parliamentary era, when it was deemed so out of repair that much of it was torn down, although enough remained that the architect Vanbrugh used a portion of it as his residence when he constructed Blenheim Palace on the neighboring estate. Only a site marker notes the location of Woodstock today.