Royal court place. One of the criteria of Norbert Elias' concept of a court society is that it existed in space.. The German word "Hof", meaning an enclosed courtyard, can also apply to a rural farmstead with outbuildings and walls forming the perimeter. It has also been used for the palatial seat where the court was held. Thus "Hof" or "court" can become transferred to the building itself. For example, the grand residence Hampton Court Palace on the River Thames above London was where Thomas Wolsey held court as Catholic cardinal (built after the Italian ideal for a cardinal's palace) until his
Hampton, London Boat Club is across the river in Molesey, 500m west of Hampton Court Bridge. Hampton SC has a clubhouse and boatyard occupying all of Benn's Island. Aquarius SC is by Hampton Court Palace stable yard. These have rival rowing and sailing clubs on neighbouring reaches of the Thames, and in respect of sailing, on the Queen Mary Reservoir. The 1857 novel "The Three Clerks" by Anthony Trollope is set in Hampton, which was then a village on the western outskirts of London: "There are still, however, some nooks within reach of the metropolis which have not been be-villaged and be-terraced