The Secrets Of Hever Castle: Home Of Anne Boleyn

[Music] heather castle is one of the most remarkable historic houses in britain it's got 700 years of turbulent history marked by glitz and glamour as well as decline and fall today i'm going to give you a whirlwind tour and show you my favorite bits let's go [Music] first off here's a potted history of the place at the start of the 13th century this site was home to a timber mott and bailey castle this would have been quite a basic structure a timber hall with just a few outbuildings but in 1271 during the reign of king edward the first the design was taken up a notch permission was granted to strengthen the house at hever with a wall of stone and lime and to crenellate it in the manner of a castle so a gatehouse was built to replace the original timber hall and it was from this gatehouse which still stands today that more additions were made in the 14th century soon there were crenellated walls with towers on the corners they added a moat and even a great hall it's hard to imagine but in the 14th century the exterior walls would have been whitewashed with a mixture of powdered chalk and water and even decorated in bright bold colours this wasn't just to make the castle more imposing it was also to protect the stone across the years all sorts of people have lived here at heaven castle since the 13th century it's passed through 37 different owners and 13 families it was originally the home of william de hieva who gave the castle its name and in the 15th century the fines family lived here the ancestors of the great explorer serrano fines of course the most famous of hevers residents were the berlin family who then spelt their name b-u-l-l-e-n the castle was bought by jeffrey berlin in 1462 and it was his grandson thomas berlin who lived here and raised his three children mary ann and george and it was ann berlin the middle child who became henry viii second wife spoiler alert the berlin's rise to power didn't last long in fact it was cut brutally short when anne and george berlin were accused of adultery and incest and executed in 1536 their father thomas berlin was shunned at court and died two years later with the blinds out the picture hever castle came into the possession of king henry and in 1540 henry gave it to his fourth wife after he annulled the marriage this was anne of cleves also known as the flanders mere since the tudor period hever passed through the hands of several different families and gradually fell into decline it may well have fallen into total disrepair had it not been snapped up by the richest man in america william waldorf astor astor threw his immense fortune into refurbishing and reimagining heaver as a grand tudor fortress filling it with ornate oak panelling and magnificent tudor portraits he created a lavish family home that could indulge his passion for history and impress his vip guests so what we're looking at today is a real hot potch of 700 years of tweaks and alterations even the moat has caused all sorts of problems in the past we're on quite low ground here and as the moat used to join the river eaton it would spill over the banks and flood the castle's courtyard of course astor sorted all of that out in his renovations and in 1906 he took out the crumbling brick bridge and reinstated this wooden drawbridge which can still be raced no doubt useful for any guests who are turned up late this gatehouse is home to two of the oldest surviving port collises in england one of which can still be operated and here in the castle courtyard you can clearly see the difference between the 13th century gatehouse and the timber-framed tudor editions in ann berlin's day there would have been four doorways on each side rather than the two we see today the east wing was where the servants worked and slept and the west wing had the private rooms of the berlin family this is the 13th century gatehouse the oldest part of the castle this is where william de heaver would have eaten slept and entertained his guests and it was pretty luxurious it even had a guard robe aka a loo which emptied directly down into the moat look out below [Music] sorry it's a pretty gruesome collection in here there are executioner swords pieces of armor and even instruments of torture and one of the strangest pieces are these scolds bridles these were designed to be worn by outspoken women a bit like myself who was suspected to be witches shrews or scolds next we're heading to the inner hall in the berlin state this was the kitchen where great feasts were prepared and thomas berlin even had high ceilings installed to help dissipate the smoke of course it doesn't look much like a kitchen these days as much of this paneling and woodwork was installed by william waldor astor who used this as his grand reception room astor employed 748 men to refurbish the castle and he was careful to preserve as much of the original structure as possible with strict instructions to use historically authentic tools materials and techniques where possible but my favorite detail in this room is this portrait of elizabeth davao who was the third wife of philip ii of spain now it's a beautiful portrait of elizabeth but what's most interesting is this pear-shaped pearl hanging in her hair this pearl is la peregrina it's believed to be one of the most symmetrical natural pearls ever found it was also owned by queen mary the first and it stayed in the hands of royalty hollywood royalty that is when richard burton bought it for elizabeth taylor and the pearl actually returned to heaven castle when elizabeth taylor wore it whilst filming here at the 1969 film and of a thousand days isn't that neat the other bit of bling to look out for in this room is this gilt bronze clock on the mantelpiece this is a replica of what henry viii gave and berlin on the morning of their marriage in 1532. i know historians talk all about the significance of this representing the time finally coming or time running out but for me it's far more simple just hours before the wedding henry gave anne a clock i think he's saying please don't be late and who can blame him caterers are expensive the next stop on our tour is the drawing room originally used in tudor time as domestic offices this had a new lease of life in 1905 for william waldorf astor kitted it out with this extravagant elizabethan style paneling made from oak and holly [Music] this is the room where astor would have schmoozed many of his famous friends we know that queen elizabeth ii winston churchill and sir arthur conan doyle were among his guests you can picture the scene in here astor here with all his pals a few dukes a few earls all drinking champagne gin and tonics perhaps and all making lots of hearty jokes a whale of a time in fact they were entertained lavishly and i'm sure they were impressed by asta's little surprise behind this door he transformed the medieval turret into his very own drinks cupboard bottoms up after a few bottles of champagne astor brought his guests into the dining room in tudor times this was the great hall initially opened right up to the roof rafters the berlins would have dined in this room and it was here that they entertained henry viii and his retinue my favorite thing in this room is this impressive gilt lock this belongs to henry viii the king was so paranoid about assassination he always traveled with a locksmith and it was this lock that was fitted to his bedroom wherever he stayed and then removed when the royal party moved on now if there's one lesson you must take away from a visit to heaven castle it's that you must never run up the stairs for some of these steps like this one at different depths this wasn't because it was poorly designed or hurriedly built this was like in many medieval castles an ingenious safety feature the idea was that if you lived here you would know which steps were the odd ones but for invaders they would be thrown off balance trip up and give the defenders a crucial advantage the next stop on the tour is my favorite room of the whole castle ann berlin's bedroom anne berlin was probably born in 1501 and she spent her childhood here at heaven castle and historians think that this was probably her bedroom it seems that anne was fond of heaver even when she was a young woman and courting henry viii and would often return here in fact seven of the king's love letters were sent to anne while she was staying at hever in 1528. and here she is wearing her famous bee pendant she has a daring french style hood revealing her dark hair as a young woman anne was considered to be intelligent and witty if not traditionally beautiful the venetian ambassador described anne as not one of the handsomest women in the world she is of middling stature with a swarthy complexion long neck wide mouth bosom not much raised and in fact has nothing but the king's great appetite and her eyes which are black and beautiful some of anne's most personal possessions are on display here at heber castle in this room you can see two beautifully illuminated prayer books which were signed and annotated by anne herself these kind of personal prayer books were popular in england from the 13th century until the reformation they earned the name the book of hours from the short services to the virgin mary which were read at eight fixed hours during the day including matins and vespers it's incredible to imagine ann berlin walking these corridors and of course henry would have visited on several occasions as they were courting as henry would have been given the grandest rooms available he probably stayed in this room when he came to visit [Music] after being lavishly fed and watered by the berlin family with a great feast of pies game roasted meats custards and jellies king henry would have probably climbed into this bed and snuggled up to sleep perhaps dreaming of ambulance or glory in france and probably snoring quite a lot i imagine hey that's private this bed dates from 1540 and it's a tester bed the term derives from the latin word tester meaning head because these beds were headed by the solid wooden canopy suspended above it cozy look i do love green sleeves but can you play wonder wool next up we're heading to the staircase gallery built in around 1506 by thomas berlin the gem in this room is this portrait of mary queen of scots in mourning this portrait was recently discovered in france and is believed to have come from the studio of francois crue a french renaissance miniaturist and painter it's thought that mary's white morning gowns were because of a recent death of three close family members this is probably heaven castle's most famous room the long gallery it was built in the 16th century and extends across the entire width of the castle here the blinds might have entertained guests displayed art collections and even taken exercise the paneling in this room dates from the 16th century but the meringue like ceiling was another aster addition it was made in london and brought to heber on a steam train astor even had the train tracks extended just so the ceiling could be installed the most exciting thing about this room though are the 18 original portraits on the wall these tell the epic saga from the walls of the roses all the way through to the reformation aka a lot of family drama most of what we see at hever is really the work of william waldorf astor and he spent a lot of time on re-landscaping the gardens too from these dizzying heights you can see all the re-landscaping that astor did in the early 1900s you can see the maze just next to the castle and beyond that the italian garden he had 800 men contracted to excavate the 38 acre lake and they were instructed in december 1904 to carry on the works regularly and continuously by day and night except on sundays when so ordered so there you have it the magnificent history of heaven castle in a nutshell thanks for watching check out the history hit youtube where 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Channel: History Hit

Views: 1,328,747

Keywords: anne boleyn, hever castle, henry viii, hever castle tour, the boleyns, english castles, hever castle history, history of hever castle, hever castle anne boleyn, hever castle what to see, inside hever castle, hever castle hstory, king henry iii, henry viii and his six wives, the tudors, home of anne boleyn, tudor building, hever castle kent, king henry viii, tudor manor house, english castle, alice loxton, history hit, history hit youtube, secrets of hever castle

Id: 5-UEXc4ZerA

Length: 13min 51sec (831 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 04 2022