Lower Car-park and Tennis Court Lane, Hampton Court Palace, Hampton Court road, Twickenham, Surrey Archaeological Evaluation Report

From the 14th to the 18th of August 2000, the Oxford Archaeological Unit (OAU) carried out an archaeological recording exercise involving the excavation of three pits at Hampton Court Palace, Hampton Court Road, Twickenham, Greater London. A single test pit(TP3) was located in the Lower Car Park, and a further two (TPs 1 and 2) at the western end of Tennis Court Lane. These works were commissioned by Jonathon Foyle, Assistant Curator of Historic Buildings, Historic Royal Palaces, Hampton Court Palace, Surrey. Test pit 1 revealed a substantial sequence of dump layers, dating to the final years of the 17th century, tipping down from south to north into what is probably the former moat (constructed c. 1515-17) The infill of the moat was sealed by a cobbled surface now some 0.3m below the modern tarmac surface of Tennis Court Lane. Test pit 3 revealed the truncated remains of the central wall of the the late 17th century Kitchen Gardens and the heavily demolished remains of a previously unknown structure. This comprised a concrete floor slab with associated brickwork approached by a number of salt-glazed sewage pipes set at regular intervals. At a later point a concrete structure with a central north south gully was installed. These structures were demolished and their below ground elements partially truncated, presumably in 1935 when the current car park was installed.