Tudor Palace Drain

3D Model

Remains of a small surface water drain, to the north of the kitchen block of Henry VIII’s Elsyng Palace, excavated by the Enfield Archaeological Society in Forty Hall, Enfield, July 2017. The drain has been heavily disturbed by tree roots, and at the north end of the trench the south side of what turned out to be a larger drain is visible. We found the larger drain truncated the smaller one, and so probably dates to around the time of Henry VIII’s acquisition of the palace some time after 1540. The smaller drain probably belongs to the earlier palace era, when it belonged to Sir Thomas Lovell, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Henry VII.