Cockpit-in-Court

The Cockpit-in-Court was an early theatre built by Henry VIII at the Palace of Whitehall in Westminster, next to St James’s Park. Originally a cockpit for cockfighting, it became part of the Tudor and Stuart royal residence after Henry enlarged the palace. The building later served as a private theatre and chambers for household members. In 1629, Inigo Jones redesigned it for Charles I as a venue for court masques. After the Interregnum, it reopened under Charles II and featured a green-baize dressing room, possibly the origin of the term ‘green room’. The Cockpit played a role in the Glorious Revolution when Princess Anne and Sarah Churchill fled from it in 1688 to avoid arrest. The palace was largely destroyed by fire in 1698, but the Cockpit survived. It then became government offices, first housing the Treasury until 1734. Later, it served the Foreign Office, Privy Council, and other bodies before the current building at 70 Whitehall took over. Visitors today find the Cabinet Office occupying the site at 70 Whitehall. A reconstructed Cockpit Passage runs along the edge of the old tennis courts. The ground-floor minstrel’s gallery displays pictures of fighting cocks and a model of the old Whitehall palace. Nearby, Cockpit Steps lead up from Birdcage Walk past the remains of another royal cockpit. The site links past and present, marking where royal theatre and government once met.