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originally intended by James I as a palace for his Queen, Anne of
Denmark, was commenced in 1616 and marked the introduction
for the first time in England of the Palladian style of domestic
architecture. The Queen's House, as it is now called, was finally
completed for Charles I and occupied by Queen Henrietta Maria
in 1635. This beautiful house set the fashion for the big country
seats which subsequently sprang up all over England.
Following the execution of Charles I, the Palace of Placentia
fell into disrepair and, during the Cromwellian period, valuable
furnishings and pictures were sold. It was the same story with
Eltham Palace to which, unfortunately, full reparations were not
made until the middle 1930's. However, at Greenwich, on the
restoration of Charles II in 1660, the older buildings were
demolished for an intended new palace but only one of the four
blocks forming the present Royal Naval College was begun. The
remaining three blocks were completed by Queen Ann and
William and Mary, respectively, with the laudable aim of providing
a Royal Hospital for Naval Seamen. For this purpose, a
commission had been set up with John Evelyn, the diarist, as its
treasurer but it was some years before the Hospital was eventually
completed by Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor and later architects in
accordance with the overall plans of Christopher Wren. This
group of imposing and stately buildings, now the Navy's University,
were themselves to become equally famous as the original
palace for they now house the nation's Maritime Museum.
Meanwhile, at Woolwich, the foundations of a Royal Arsenal
were laid with the erection of a Rope Yard in 1573 to serve the
nearby dockyards. Some 50 years later, the Warren was being
used for gun testing and by the end of the 17th century the
Lieutenant General of Ordnance was resident at the Warren and
the manufacture of other war materials was proceeding. Previous
to 1716, the government's guns were cast at Moorfields but,
following a serious accident there, the Royal Brass Foundry at
Woolwich was completed a year later to the designs of Sir John
Vanbrugh to undertake these duties. Many of the buildings
erected at that time were completed by convict labour which was
accommodated in hulks moored offshore in the Thames. Resulting
from a visit by George III in 1805, the establishment became
known as the Royal Arsenal. As a centre for research, design,
manufacture and testing of military stores and equipment, the
Royal Arsenal was unsurpassed. Modern requirements have
demanded a curtailment and concentration of these particular
skills and now plans are for much of the land to be utilised by
the Greater London Council for housing purposes.