Monument record NKT 005 - Palace House Mansion;The Palace;The Greyhound;United Reform Church

Replacement palace for NKT 004 for Charles II, enlarged and built onto house of Earl of Thomond, and the Greyhound Inn next door, which were purchased by Charles II in 1668. Architect for extension, William Samwell. According to Count of Tuscany in 1669 `does not deserve to be called a king's residence' and a description of 1670 by John Evelyn also records its lack of grandeur. Details in (S1).
Rented to Duke of Somerset & Duke of Rutland in C18 and sold in 1819 when most pulled down except 2 lower storeys of SW block (now part of `Palace House Mansion')(S1).
2001: for 2 small excavations within area see (S3). HER mapping after (S2)(S3, fig 2).
For associated ice-house see NKT 016
A small excavation in advance of construction work, in connection with the restoration of Charles II's palace, identified the remains of a late-medieval timber-framed house, apparently destroyed by fire in the 16th or 17th century, prior to the construction of the palace in the 1680s. See S5.
2001: English salt glazed tankard, dated 1756, incised M-Dibble/Newmarket, details in (S6).
1996: Two monitoring visits identified an outside wall in shallow footings on the north wall of the north east room. In two engineering holes in the south east basement room, wall footings were identities stepped into the room, with no natural was observed. In the second hole at 2.01m above the wall footing a 62cm horizontal width of wall face was seen where 2cm have been cut off the face of the bricks. This continued on all the walls with varied width, possible for panelling (S7,S8).

1994: An Evaluation identified 17th century wall remains in two trenches with evidence for structural detail in the form of plaster and door sills. 2 long trenches in the main garden revealed a 17th century drain and garden soil, and earlier pre 17th century layers and features. The interior trenches demonstrated that the Victorian floor levels were raised above those of the 17th century and the plaster stripping established the existence of a surviving 17th century wall in the 19th century phase of construction (S9).

1996: Following the initial archaeological work involved the excavation of evaluation trenches within the Palace House Mansion and Gardens. The first area was on the north side of the surviving portion of the palace. The excavation revealed a series of brick culverts associated with the palace and the remains of two, or possibly three, late medieval/post medieval buildings, one of which appeared to have been destroyed by fire. A second area, in the former front garden of Palace House Mansion, revealed further brick culverts, of which there were at least two phases and a post medieval kiln or oven. Two small areas of palace foundation were also recorded (S10).

Additional imformation on the Palace house stables in (S11).