The kitchens at Hampton Court Palace were the largest in all of Tudor England!
Which is hardly surprising when you consider that had to feed Henry VIII…
But it wasn’t just Henry who was being fed, up to 600 people needed their meals twice a day which kept the kitchen staff very busy indeed.
This is bigger than any modern hotel and they had to do it without any modern technology too.
The kitchens at HCP had a few Master Cooks who had a team of Yeomen and Sargeants working for them to keep Henry VIII’s court happy and fed!
The annual provision of meat for the Tudor court was a whopping 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer, 760 calves, 1,870 pigs and 53 wild boar!
Whichย was then all washed down with 600,000 gallons of beer.
You can visit the Tudor Kitchens right now as part of your trip to Hampton Royal Palace and watch some live historic cookery too!
Plus in 2014 they opened a royal chocolate making kitchen which once catered for three kings: William III, George I and George II.
It’s the only surviving royal chocolate kitchen in the country and has loads of original fittings including a few stoves, a wood, a gas stove and lastly the best pellet stove we could find. All equipment and furniture still intact.
Hampton Court Palace is packed with loads to do this summer.
