Henry VIII Mound

Also known as:
King's Standinge
Nearest town:
Richmond London (2km NNW)
OS reference:
TQ184732
OS sheet:
176
Latitude:
51° 26' 41.49 N
Longitude:
0° 17' 45.95 W
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Henry VIII Mound

London's historic views 'under threat'

juamei
juamei Jun 4, 2007
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Through the carefully trimmed foliage, St Paul's majestic dome appears no larger than a thumbnail.

Seen from 10 miles away, London's iconic cathedral seems to hover in the distance like a mirage, shimmering in the heat.

This unique "viewing corridor" from King Henry VIII's Mound, down a specially maintained tree-lined avenue, has been a feature of Richmond Park in south-west London, since the early 1700s.

With the surrounding modern buildings carefully hidden by the holly hedging, this "key hole" view of the 18th Century landmark from the park is like a window to London's past.

But heritage campaigners fear new planning laws – introduced by Mayor Ken Livingstone and rubber-stamped by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly – mean Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece could end up crowded out by sky-scrapers.

Under the new planning rules, the so-called viewing corridor has been narrowed from a width of 150m to 70m.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6712137.stm

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Henry VIII Mound

N
Neil-NewX Dec 10, 2006
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[visited 9.12.2006]

Situated on the highest point on Richmond Hill, overlooking Thames valley. Easy to find – from the Pembroke Lodge car park on west of park walk towards the Lodge (building with cafe in it) and bear right, heading about as far as you can go within the fenced off garden. The mound is signposted, with a handy free telescope on top to take advantage of the remarkable view through to St Pauls. The official sign at the bottom is quite informative, it quotes from Edward Jesse (1835): 'it has been opened and a considerable deposit of ashes found in the centre of it'.

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Henry VIII Mound

pure joy
pure joy Mar 3, 2003
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Henry VIII Mound – 2.3.2003

Hmmm, this is a funny one. I’m not exactly sure what is supposed to be the mound / barrow. Was I in the wrong place?? Probably! If it’s the whole bit of sticky out hill then I suspect it couldn’t be a barrow simply due to its size. If it’s just part of the mound / hill then maybe that was a barrow. I took a photo from outside the gardens of what looked to me to be the most suspiciously barrow like thing around, but looking again at Juamei's pics I'm more confused coz I don't think I was were Juamei was!

The general Richmond Park info board says “King Henry VIII’s Mound. Also called the King’s Standing, this is probably a bronze age barrow. It’s vista across London to St.Paul’s Cathedral is now protected by statute”.

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Henry VIII Mound

juamei
juamei May 7, 2002
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[visited 06/05/02]

After dragging my gf up and down, either side of the mound, I finally twigged that it was inside the fenced off gardens and so we drove to the nearest carpark on our way out of Richmond Park.

This is another heavily altered prehistoric monument within the confines of London. Its top was levelled off a couple of hundred years ago and at some point slightly more recently a spiral path was constructed to its summit. Nowadays a few benches reside at the top facing out to the west on a concrete platform.

Well having finally made it, we were awestruck by the views to the west, you can see to the horizon and on a clear day, I imagine you can see to Windsor (there was an arrow pointing it out :). The Thames isn't visible due to tree coverage, but winds its way around the foot of the hill the mound sits on top of, less than a mile away.

And over to the east was a most unexpected sight, a "keyhole" view of St Pauls aka Temple of Diana. A legally protected view across 10 odd miles of London. Tbh, you'll probably need a telephoto lense to take advantage of it though.

In summary, in an area starved of prehistory, this is well worth a visit.

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Folklore

Henry VIII Mound
Round Barrow(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Nov 28, 2016
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In the grounds of the Lodge, which command a fine view of the Thames, St George's Hills and Kingston Vale, is a mound, marked as the King's Standinge on the oldest extant map of the Park, dated 1637, the year of its first enclosure. This quaint name, the real meaning of which cannot be determined, is supposed to have reference to the legend that Henry VIII. stood upon the mound to watch for the going up of the rocket which was to announce to him that the head of Anne Boleyn had fallen, and, in deference to this tradition, care was taken when Sidmouth Wood was planted not to intercept the view from the mound, by leaving a clear space, through which the dome of St. Paul's can be seen on exceptionally clear days, between two rows of trees that some years hence will form a fine avenue. Unfortunately, however, there is really no more historic foundation for the romantic story connected with the King's Standinge-- Henry having been far away from Richmond on the day of the unfortunate queen's death -- than for the even more improbable supposition that Oliver's Mount takes its name from Oliver Cromwell having witnessed from it a battle between the Royal and Parliamentary forces, no struggle having taken place that could possibly have been seen from Richmond Park.
From 'The Royal Manor of Richmond, with Petersham, Ham and Kew' by Mrs A G Bell (1907).

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Miscellaneous

Henry VIII Mound
Round Barrow(s)
D
daniel33 Feb 15, 2004
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Interestingly, the view in the opposite direction from St Paul's to King Henry's Mound aligns with the setting of the full moon closest to the summer solstice (major southern moon set). Another bronze age mound previously existed on the other side of sidmouth wood along this same alignment. This particular alignment is very common in other bronze age structures (e.g. the recumbant stone circles of n-e scotland. Also the alignment of Avebury with Glastonbury Tor, thought by many to be part of an ancient ley line, runs along a very similar angle. It seems improbable that the mound(s) were constructed to make this alignment with the site of St Paul's/ludgate hill (thought to be the site of a pre-roman temple) but the possibility remains intriguing. The line also runs directly through 10 Downing Street...

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Topics

FAO PureJoy 6
juamei
juamei
Mar 2003

Sites within 20km of Henry VIII Mound

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