Gallows Tamkin

Details

KINGSTON UPON THAMES

59/3/1 COOMBE WOOD GOLF COURSE 30-MAY-1951 GALLOWS TAMKIN (Formerly listed as: COOMBE WOOD GOLF COURSE CONDUIT ON COOMBE WOOD GOLF COURSE)

GV II Tamkin house. 1538-40, partly restored in the C20 and early C21.

EXTERIOR A single-storey red brick building with a gabled roof which is steeply pitched and tiled. The front (south) elevation has a restored four-centred stone archway with stone block jambs and a slit window above. The brick walls have been restored.

INTERIOR The interior is five steps below ground level and has a floor constructed of roof tiles laid on edge. None of the original fixtures are visible.

HISTORY Gallows Tamkin was constructed in 1538-40 as part of a new conduit to provide Hampton Court Palace with water from springs at Coombe about 5km to the north-east. An existing conduit had been established at Hampton village by one of the previous owners, Sir Giles Daubeney or Thomas Wolsey. However following the acquisition of Hampton Court by King Henry VIII, there was need for a greater supply of water, maintained at a higher pressure. After the suppression of Merton Priory in 1538, land was set aside in upper Kingston for a new water supply system. A summary account covering the period 1538 to 1545, mentions 'charges of the condyte from Combhill' and also a sum of £100 spent on the construction. The water was collected at the head of the springs in Coombe, in water tanks covered by secure brick buildings known as conduit houses. There were three conduit houses known as: Coombe Conduit, Gallows Conduit, and Ivy Conduit, all of which survive. The water flowed under gravity in underground lead pipes to the Palace. The route of the pipes passed under the rivers Hogsmill and Thames via several tamkin houses. These were small brick buildings with stopcocks and expansion tanks that allowed part of the pipe to be isolated so leaks could be identified and repaired. Gallows Tamkin is the only tamkin house still standing.

There are records of repair work to the conduit in the early C17 and early C18. However in 1742 the Office of Works ordered a survey of the conduit and undertook a major overhaul to increase its efficiency. It continued to supply Hampton Court until 1876. Gallows Tamkin was incorporated into the grounds of Coombe Wood Golf Course in 1904.

SOURCES Lindus Forge, J, Coombe Hill Conduit Houses and the Water Supply System of Hampton Court Palace (1959), In Surrey Archaeological Collections, Vol 56, 3-14 Thurley, S, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (1993), 163-170 Thurley, S, Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History (2003), 73-4, 112, 285, 322-3 Panizzo, P and Lown, S, The Conduit Houses of Coombe - the ancient water supply to Hampton Court Palace (2006), pamphlet

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Gallows Tamkin is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: as a rare surviving mid-C16 tamkin house that although restored retains original fabric; * Historic interest: as the only tamkin house still standing as part of a Tudor water supply system to Hampton Court Palace; * Group value: for its historical and functional association with Gallows Conduit House, Ivy Conduit House and Coombe Conduit House, buildings that formed part of the same water supply system, and Hampton Court Palace, the royal palace which the conduit supplied.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

203104

Legacy System:

LBS

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