Hever Castle

The Inner Hall was the Great Kitchen in the Tudor period. The Italian walnut panelling and columns were designed in 1905 by the sculptor William Silver Frith as part of William Waldorf Astor’s restoration of Hever Castle. The gallery above the hall was inspired by the rood screen at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The ceiling is in the Elizabethan style and incorporates the Tudor rose emblem.

In the fifteenth century this room was the Great Hall and was originally open to the roof rafters. The linenfold panelling, the ceiling and the fireplace surmounted by the Boleyn coat of arms were designed by William Silver Frith. The sculptor Nathaniel Hitch carved the Minstrels’ Gallery in 1905.

This room contained the administrative offices during the Tudor period and became the Library in 1905. The sabicu wood carvings are in the style of Grinling Gibbons. The bookcases are copied from those once owned by the diarist Samuel Pepys. The portrait above the fireplace shows Johann Jakob Astor, founder of the Astor family’s fortune in the late eighteenth century.

Anne Boleyn was born in 1501 and spent her childhood at Hever Castle, which had belonged to her family since 1462. This room is traditionally thought to have been her bedroom. The half-domed ceiling is an original fifteenth-century feature designed to give a feeling of greater space and light.

This room contains a newly acquired panel belonging to Anne of Cleves. It is an exceptionally rare piece of the Tudor royal interior which went unnoticed for centuries before its existence was discovered by author Sarah Morris and historian Dr Jonathan Foyle. Another recent addition is a portrait of Henry VIII which is a rare 16th Century replica of a portrait in the Royal Collection by Joos Van Cleeve. There is also a portrait of each of his six wives which form part of an impressive collection of Tudor portraits regarded as ‘one of the best collections of Tudor portraits after the National Portrait Gallery’ by David Starkey. Philip Mould described the portrait collection at Hever Castle as the ‘greatest privately owned public collection that tells the story of the Tudors.’

It is traditionally believed that Henry VIII stayed at the Castle on several occasions during his courtship with Anne Boleyn. The panelling in this room, excluding the section over the fireplace, dates to the sixteenth century. The ceiling is the oldest in the Castle and dates from c.1462.

The Long Gallery was constructed in the sixteenth century and extends across the entire width of the Castle. It was used for entertaining guests, taking exercise, and displaying art collections. The panelling dates from the sixteenth century. The ceiling is an early twentieth-century reconstruction in the Tudor style created by Nathaniel Hitch.

This section of the Castle is dedicated to its more recent history. It contains pictures and memorabilia relating to the Astor family, who were the owners for 80 years from 1903. This remarkable American family was responsible for most of what visitors see today. They restored, added to and enhanced the existing rooms and then searched the world for paintings, furniture, carpets, tapestries and objets d’art worthy of furnishing and decorating their fine home.

The Castle Courtyard is where the difference in age between the 13^th-century Gatehouse and timber-framed Tudor additions is the most obvious. The front portcullis is said to be one of the oldest working portcullises in the country and the drawbridge was reinstated by William Waldorf Astor and can still be raised!