Revealed, Henry VIII's lost pleasure palace: Amazing scale model recreates Nonsuch Palace more than 300 years after it was destroyed

Palace considered to be one of the finest architectural wonders of the world

'Nonsuch' was named so because there was no other like it



Palace stood for 150 years and only four pictures were ever painted of it

When it was built, it was hailed as one of the finest buildings of its age – only to be destroyed 150 years later.

Now Henry VIII’s ‘lost’ palace can be seen for the first time in more than 300 years – in a scale model based on 50 years of research.

The replica of Nonsuch Palace – so named because there was no other like it – took 1,250 hours to make.

Majestic: Nonsuch can be seen in all its glory for the first time in more than 300 years after a model maker recreated it thanks to an Oxford University professor's research

Intricate: Ben Taggart spent 1,250 hours building the detailed 3D replica and worked from Professor Martin Biddle's extensive research and plans

PALACE BUILT TO CELEBRATE BIRTH OF LONGED-FOR SON Visitors to site of Henry VIII's 'lost' palace today would have little clue of its majestic past.

The remains of Nonsuch Palace consists mainly of 700 acres of green open space, located between Ewell and Cheam in Surrey. Henry began building the elaborate royal pad set in vast hunting grounds in 1538 in celebration of the birth of his longed-for male heir Edward – and as a glittering demonstration of Tudor power.

The height of extravagance, the palace had cost over £24,000 by the time Henry died in 1547 – and was still incomplete.

Sadly, little of it remains save a few foundations - bizarrely, Charles II gave it to his mistress the Duchess Of Cleveland in 1670, then allowed her to demolish it and sell off the parts to pay for gambling debts in 1682.

It measures 7.2ft by 4ft (2.2m by 1.2m) and is made of wood, with intricate architectural detail added in plastics, fibre-glass resin and brass.

The courtyards are decorated with 700 stucco plaster panels depicting Roman emperors, gods and goddesses and tiny paintings attached to the walls.

Nonsuch was commissioned in 1538 by Henry VIII to celebrate the birth of his son, the future Edward VI, and outshine his rival, King Francois I of France.

The building was so grand that it inspired a foreign visitor to comment: ‘This which no equal has in art or fame, Britons deservedly do Nonsuch name.’

But by 1690 it had been completely dismantled by Charles II’s mistress, who sold its raw materials to pay off her gambling debts.



The model of Nonsuch was based on the research of Oxford University Professor Martin Biddle, who co-ordinated the first excavation on the Surrey palace’s site as an undergraduate in 1959.

Rare: Just four pictures were ever painted of Nonsuch Palace, such as this 1752 watercolour by Joris Hoefnagel. It stood for 150 years before it was torn down

Palace from the past: Model maker Ben Taggart with the replica of Henry VIII's 'lost' Nonsuch

Painstaking: Ben with the model. The courtyards are decorated with an incredible 700 stucco plaster panels depicting Roman emperors, gods and goddesses

Fit for a king: Nonsuch was built for Henry VIII, costing £24,000 - a fortune in those days

He then spent years poring over illustrations, archaeological evidence, written sources, and artefacts from Nonsuch, including thousands of original stuccos and statues.



Modeller Ben Taggart used this research as the basis for his 1:75 scale replica, now on display at the Friends of Nonsuch Museum, near Cheam, Surrey.

Professor Biddle, 74, said the model was ‘astonishing’, adding: ‘It has revolutionised the understanding of the nature of Nonsuch and leads us to know why it really was regarded by contemporaries as “that which has no equal”.’

Mr Taggart, who runs modelhouses.co.uk, said: ‘I hope [the model] will bring it to life for people today.’



Professor Biddle added : 'Of course we do not know everything about the building, so there has been a good deal of properly deployed imagination, but is absolutely as accurate as we could possibly make it.

'I have been involved in researching Nonsuch for my entire adult life and I am absolutely delighted with the model.

'It is the first time since it was destroyed that people will be able to see the palace and I hope it will lead to some very valuable discussion and further discoveries about Nonsuch.'

Gerald Smith, chairman of the charity Friends of Nonsuch, said: 'It was a truly magnificent palace - it was an enormous work of art.

'But from around 1680 onwards it was destroyed and the materials were sold for whatever they could get.

'This is the very first time anything like this model has been attempted. We can now see what the palace would have looked like at the time.' The Friends of Nonsuch raised £20,000 which helped pay for the model.

Detailed: The model maker said he wanted to recreate the sense of theatre in the piece

'Educational and ostentatious': Nonsuch was designed to teach Henry's son Edward about antiquity and ancient mythology through his surroundings as he grew up

Meticulous: The original Nonsuch Palace was designed in 1538 and was intended as a hunting lodge