Hampton Court Palace his creation, as was the second, inner gatehouse ("C") which leads to the Clock Court ("D") (Wolsey's seal remains visible over the entrance arch of the clock tower) which contained his private rooms ("O on plan"). The Base Court contained forty-four lodgings reserved for guests, while the second court (today, Clock Court) contained the very best rooms the state apartments reserved for the King and his family. Henry VIII stayed in the state apartments as Wolsey's guest immediately after their completion in 1525. In building his palace, Wolsey was attempting to create a Renaissance cardinal's palace of a rectilinear symmetrical
Hampton Court Palace the first Stuart kings. Between 1532 and 1535 Henry added the Great Hall (the last medieval great hall built for the English monarchy) and the Royal Tennis Court. The Great Hall has a carved hammer-beam roof. During Tudor times, this was the most important room of the palace; here, the King would dine in state seated at a table upon a raised dais. The hall took five years to complete; so impatient was the King for completion that the masons were compelled to work throughout the night by candlelight. The gatehouse to the second, inner court was adorned in 1540