Privy Kitchen Court, Hampton Court Palace

Oxford Archaeology were commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces to provide excavation and watching brief services during paving replacement works within the Privy Kitchen Court at Hampton Court Palace. The privy kitchen was constructed in 1570 during the reign of Elizabeth I and replaced an earlier privy kitchen which was situated under the Royal Apartments. The area around the kitchen has undergone many changes and the original courtyard adjacent to the privy kitchen is now enclosed and used as a kitchen and servery for the privy kitchen tearoom. The courtyard forming the research area for this project was created in the 19th century during extensive works to the Palace. A previous trial excavation was undertaken in 2001 and this had found that most of the 19th century paviours had some form of moulding profile on the underside which appeared to be off-cuts of 19th century stonework. Therefore, a key part of this recording work was to continue to record the moulding profiles found on the removed paviours. Preparation works for the new paving also meant a small shallow trench was dug along each wall of the courtyard exposing the brick footings of the surrounding structures. The limited excavation revealed several features relating to the drainage and paving of the courtyard. No surfaces relating to the pre 19th century use were found. Amongst pre 19th century features uncovered there was a partial 18th century brick wall which was probably part of the walling dividing the area into storage space. A small section of partial brick walling in the north of the courtyard is thought to predate this. Several squared, hollow, features lined with slate are thought to relate to the areas use as a kitchen. The profiles of 30 removed paviours were recorded and the majority of the paviours appeared to be off-cuts, potentially from the extensive 19th century refenestration of the palace, however two paviours showed some evidence of reused stone.