Henry VIII was architecturally rapacious and a small, but important, number of his houses were taken from his courtiers when they fell from favour. Beddington is one of these.
The house had been built by the Carew family in what is now the London borough of Sutton. Sir Richard Carew (d.1520) had rebuilt the stone manor house surrounded by a moat adding the magnificent great hall 60ft long and 32 feet wide that is the great joy of the site today.
Sir Richard’s son, Nicholas, was more-or-less the same age as Henry VIII and when Henry came to the throne became one of his close friends. He was cousin to Anne Boleyn and when Henry fell in love with her Nicholas arranged secret meetings between the couple at Beddington, which was only sixteen miles from Anne’s parents’ house at Hever. Carew was Anne Boleyn’s champion at her coronation feast riding fully armed to defend her title. He entertained the king and queen at Beddington after their marriage.
But it all ended badly and Carew was outmanoeuvred by Thomas Cromwell and quarrelled with the king. He was attainted for treason and executed in 1539. The king took his manor house where he stayed occasionally in the 1540s. On Henry’s death the contents of the house was inventoried and the inventory shows that it was comfortably furnished – several rooms are mentioned including the great hall and a gallery.
Edward VI granted the house to Thomas Lord Darcy in 1552. The manor house is now used as a school and council offices and is not open to the public. A magnificent royal lock from the house can be seen in the V&A.