The Old Court House The Old Court House The Old Court House is a Grade II* listed house located off Hampton Court Green in Richmond upon Thames in south west London whose origins date back to 1536. The architect Sir Christopher Wren, who lived there from 1708 to 1723, was given a 50-year lease on the property by Queen Anne in lieu of overdue payments for his work on St Paul's Cathedral. The lease passed from Wren's son to his grandson. It was purchased from the Crown Estate in 1984. King Henry VIII obtained the newly built Hampton Court Palace from Cardinal Wolsey in
Eltham Ordinance Eltham Ordinance The Eltham Ordinance of January 1526 was the failed reform of the English court of Henry VIII by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. It is named after the Eltham Palace in Kent where Wolsey devised his plan. The Ordinance, which targeted Wolsey's influential opponents from the Privy chamber, would have given the Cardinal immense political power, but the plan did not materialize. Wolsey jealously watched the rising influence of Henry's courtiers. By around 1518 he himself amassed enough influence to control the access of lay courtiers to the king but the Privy chamber and the King's council remained a formidable