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Nonsuch Palace comes to (virtual) life
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| Once lost to history: Nonsuch Palace was built in 1538, but razed in 1682. Picture: Bourne Hall Museum |
The magic of modern 3D imaging has resurrected Henry VIII's fabulous "hunting lodge". KEVIN BARNES reports.
Several problems surfaced as Anthony Spreadborough began recreating the stuccoed palace that stood in the 16th century as an elaborate monument to Henry VIII's ambition.
Of greatest concern was the lack of information about a structure cloaked in mystery since it was razed more than 300 years ago.
All that remains of Nonsuch Palace there really was "none such" is a hump in the ground in Ewell, some masonry and fragments of astonishing architecture.
Only three paintings were produced during its 144 years of existence.
How, then, do you produce an accurate representation when there is nothing to represent? Where do you begin a model when what you really need is a time machine?
It is eight years since Anthony, a senior consultant at Atkins engineering group in Epsom, started searching for answers.
When we meet at the Woodcote Grove headquarters, he starts up a flatscreen computer on which the assiduously compiled findings are stored.
The machine flickers into life to reveal a virtual reality model, capable of being rotated through 360 degrees.
For centuries the fairytale scene that is unfolding lavish gold and white towers set in Italianate gardens had seemed lost to history. It is Nonsuch Palace, and now there is one such.
Anthony, 48, says: "I think this is a big achievement. There is a sense of recreating a palace that had disappeared completely.
"The model allows people to explore something no longer there, and brings the palace to life in a way not possible from just visiting the site.
"It is the best representation, as there aren't any other physical models.
"The benefit of all virtual reality imaging is that it allows you to fly' around in any direction the best way to get to know a building.
"Now I've seen it, you have to say Nonsuch is a highly impressive building. At the ornate end, the panels were made of stucco you had a brilliant white wooden framework covered with slate then gold, and a very bright, striking facade."
So does the model do anything more than use cutting-edge technology to make real the possibilities of the human imagination?
"Well, there is an element of guesswork, but informed guesswork," Anthony says.
"We had three contemporary paintings which focused more on the plainer end of the palace.
"The main difficulty was the mismatch between the different information.
"But remember we had a footprint of the site from excavation in 1959 and contemporary written accounts which actually gave a lot of verbal detail.
"There was some speculation about the exact dimensions and historians may not agree entirely with all the aspects, but it's more about creating an overall impression".
Nonsuch Palace was born in 1538 of Henry VIII's lunatic determination to build a hunting lodge to eclipse that of his French rival, Francis I.
When informed that the village Cuddington stood in the way of his plans, the king wasted no time in having it levelled.
On to the demolition site soon arrived 500 workmen, followed by 15,000ft of floorboards and 250,000 nails.
Finding a ready supply of stone presented no difficulty.
Some 3,600 tons were looted from Merton Priory after Henry had ordered the dissolution of the monasteries.
The decoration could charitably be described as extravagant.
In fact, Queen Mary I so reviled the stucco gods said to leap from the walls that she sold the palace to Henry Fitzalan, the Catholic Earl of Arundel, who had eased her accession.
After his death it was returned to the royal family, stripped in the civil war then used fleetingly by the Exchequer as a retreat during the Great Plague and the Great Fire.
By 1670 the palace built at a substantially greater cost than Hampton Court had passed to Barbara Villiers, a mistress of Charles II.
History records her defining act as flattening the "pearl of the realm" to settle a £20,000 gambling debt.
Taking eight years, the project to recreate Nonsuch Palace for the 21st century took about as long as building the original.
Approached for a representation in 1998 by Bourne Hall Museum, Atkins had to halt initial work because of a lack of funding.
Two years ago its half-completed model was resurrected with a grant from Surrey History Centre, and donations from Atkins and two private sponsors.
When the view was finally perfected its creators had undergone something of a journey of discovery.
Anthony says: "I do a fair bit of 3D modelling but there is never any historical aspect.
"Normally it is at the planning stage, when all the information is there, and it's simply a case of creating a building from all the data.
"This particular case required a lot of research and head scratching just to make everything fit together.
"But I have to say it's been a pleasure to do something which is more about helping the local community."
The virtual realty model enables a viewer to approach the palace down tree-lined avenues before skirting round a bowling green in front of the main door.
It will be unveiled to the public by Epsom and Ewell Local and Family History Centre at Ewell Library, Bourne Hall, Spring Street, Ewell, from Monday, June 19.
More information on 020 8394 0951.
3:23pm Thursday 15th June 2006
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CommentPosted by: hala, kuwait on 11:19am Mon 1 Oct 07
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