Now I am back at Eltham Palace, a place that first captured
my imagination back in 1964 and continues to do so.*
This is the cover to the 1958 Ministry of Works Official
Guide-book price One Shilling.
It runs to just 14 pages with four photographs and a map,
and of course is a little bit of history in its own right.
When I first wandered around the Hall I don’t think what I
saw would have been so different from what the guidebook described.
Now fifty-eight years on I am not so sure. It has been a long time since I have been there
and the Army Education Institute have long gone.
So for no particular reason other than I have the book, here
are some of the pictures from that guide and the fun will be deciding if
anything you see has changed.
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| Great Hall from the south, 1958 |
I can still remember standing under that great timber roof in the hall.
Since then I have come across pictures of the hall from the 18th century when it was used for cattle.
And read about the painstaking work of restoration undertaken in the 1930s.
So I know that next time I am back in Eltham I shall make every attempt to visit the Palace although even here times have moved on.
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| Roof of the Great Hall, 1958 |
Back in 1958 the Great Hall was open only on Thursdays ans Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. during May to October, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from November to April and admission was free.
Today it will cost you £10.20 if you an adult, £6.10 if you are under 15 but it will be open Sunday to Thursday 10 till 5 in the afternoon.
Pictures; from Eltham Palace, Kent, Ministry of Works, 1958
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