Oatlands Palace

Oatlands Palace once stood near Weybridge in Surrey, replacing a smaller manor. Today only traces remain beneath the four-star Oatlands Park Hotel and its grounds. The site slopes down towards the centre of Weybridge, marking the former heart of the estate. The palace grew from a 15th-century moated manor into a vast Tudor and Stuart complex. Henry VIII rebuilt it for Anne of Cleves, then married Katherine Howard there in 1540. Elizabeth I had its long gallery painted to resemble exotic woods and marquetry. Anne of Denmark, wife of James I, added a silkworm house, vineyard and an ornamental gateway designed by Inigo Jones. Later Henrietta Maria used the palace as a retreat, hosting masques and planting gardens with John Tradescant. Visitors now walk through the hotel’s public rooms where fragments of earlier centuries survive. Outside, the grounds cover part of the original fourteen-hectare site. A special ramp once helped the ageing Henry VIII mount his horses. Nearby, a costly grotto built for the Duke of York contains many hidden diversions. Views stretch across the estate’s former meadows toward Weybridge.