The Vyne and Syon House

Day 2.
The Vyne near Basingstoke is a really fine example of a Tudor mansion and has two very important pieces of history here. It has been remodelled in the 1700’s but it still retains the fine oak panelling in the long gallery with many unique carvings. Some are of Henry VII some are Catherine of Aragon’s pomegranate. There are some to Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fox and the detail is really intricate.

The other important feature are the stained glass windows in the chapel. The windows feature Henry and Catherine of Aragon and initially were in a church nearby but were taken down and hidden in a pond during the civil war to prevent Cromwell’ s troops from destroying them. They are both kneeling praying to the relative patron saints and fit the chapel beautifully.

I always talk to the room guides as there are usually snippets of information to be gathered. This time it was the very name of the Vyne I found out. It seems that when the Romans were in England in the year 400 there was a settlement here and they planted the very first grapevines in England so it’s been called the Vyne ever since.


On to Syon House, the home of the Duke of Northumberland for 500 years. Henry V laid the foundations in 1415 and devoted the Abbey to the Priory of Syon. This house is very important in Tudor terms. Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen here in the Long Gallery, The house has been remodeeled in the 1700's and the gallery has had it’s original panelling removed but if you keep in your mind’s eye the long gallery at the Vyne then that fateful day 500 years ago can be relived. Catherine Howard was held here on her way to the Tower of London after her arrest. Catherine of Aragon came here often to pray when it was an Abbey and Anne Boleyn railed against the Abbess and the Nuns for their “wanton incontinence”

Henry VIII’s funeral cortege stopped here on it’s way to Windsor and the coffin leaked during the night and his entrails fell over the floor that were eaten by a dog, Thus fulfilling and earlier prophecy ...Yeuk!

We had dinner at the Swan Inn right on the river Thames at Staines and we stayed at the Anne Boleyn Hotel just across the street for the Swan in The Hythe Staines a quiet little street in a conservation area.

www.tudorhistoryoturs.com