Real Tennis Court, Hampton Court Palace

Oxford Archaeology South (OAS) was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to record the east elevation of the Real Tennis Court at Grade 1 listed Hampton Court Palace. The recording took place prior to works on the exterior elevations of the tennis court carried out as part of ongoing repairs to the external brick elevations of the palace. Located on the Broad Walk of the palace gardens, the east elevation of the tennis court is a very visible part of the palace buildings. The study of the east elevation has confirmed the history of the elevation which includes many changes over the years. The east elevation is formed from the Tudor brick wall of the former open tennis play and much of this primary phase brickwork can be still be seen including some partial diaperwork. The conversion of the open play to a closed tennis play in the Stuart period included the addition of a roof and gallery as well as the construction of changing rooms and accommodation for the master of the tennis play. Later changes include the addition of an adjacent garden wall and the enclosing of the formerly open upper lights with glass windows. Between the 18th and 22nd October 2010 OAS carried out an archaeological watching brief on ground immediately to the east of the Real Tennis Courts. Two trenches one 5.7m in length and 0.4m wide and one 6.8m in length and 0.4m wide were hand excavated through flower beds in order to replace the existing drainage. The watching brief revealed the buried courses of the 16th century Real Tennis Court wall and the foundations of the adjacent late 17th / early 18th century enclosure wall.