If you’re wondering why Henry VII built a palace here, then wonder no more: In medieval times, the area was in the manor of Sheen whose manor house became a magnet for several monarchs from Henry I right through to Henry VII.

By the time the seventh Henry came here to live it had become known as Sheen Palace, but during the Christmas festivities of 1497, the King, his mother Margaret Beaufort, and his wife Elizabeth of York narrowly escaped with their lives after a fire engulfed the building –  almost burning it to the ground. Undaunted, Henry rebuilt it, naming it Richmond Palace after his former earldom: So now you know – even if you didn’t want to.

Queen Elizabeth I, who followed in her father’s footsteps with his passion for stag hunting, spent much of her time at Richmond Palace where the nearby park offered her an abundance of game in which she could pursue her ‘sport’. Not to be confused with Richmond Park, where those of a less blood-thirsty nature can still observe deer at close quarters, her hunting ground back then was what is now known as Old Deer Park.

Elizabeth died at Richmond on 24^th March 1603 and the palace gradually fell out of favour – and therefore into decay. All that’s left of the palace now is the Wardrobe, Trumpeter’s House, and Gate House. This Gate House, which was built in 1501, was made available to rent by the Crown Estate Commissioners in 1986: If you’re interested, it has a 65 year lease and five bedrooms, but you’ll need to provide your own servants.

The area around the old palace remained largely rural until it became a fashionable place to live during the 18^th century. A number of large houses started to spring up, particularly around Richmond Green and Richmond Hill, which encouraged businesses to move in to cater for their everyday needs. Even though it suffered considerable damage during WWII, Richmond today has a bustling town centre with many fine buildings that have listed status.

Richmond’s history may have attracted the well-to-do, but it also attracts visitors today as well – and there are two main reasons why: The first is its attractive riverside setting, and the second is its wonderful open spaces – but let’s start with the river first.

If you’re one of the many people who arrive at Richmond Station, and you would rather visit the Riverside before the town, then I suggest you turn left out of the station, cross over the main road, and then turn right down Duke Street towards Richmond Green. On reaching the Green, cross the road and take the diagonal footpath across the Green to the Palace Gate House, after which, you should turn right and then left down Old Palace Lane past the White Swan to the Riverside. You don’t have to take my suggestion of course, but this way, you’ll see Richmond Green, the Palace Gate House, and arrive at the beginning of the most interesting part of the Riverside footpath.

By walking away from the railway bridge, along what’s known as Cholmondeley Walk, it won’t be long before you reach St Helena Pier. This pier is where boats arrive from Westminster and depart for Hampton Court Palace, but if sailing times don’t coincide with your itinerary, then you can always pop into the White Cross instead.

The Thames Path is a 184 mile long-distance trail from its source at Thames Head in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Woolwich, but the London section begins at Richmond. If you dropped into the White Cross I’m assuming that you’re still in a fit state to continue walking upstream towards Richmond Bridge. The Bridge replaced the East Twickenham ferry in 1777 and is a much photographed feature of the town – deservedly so too in my opinion.

Next to the bridge is a workshop where boats are built and repaired (and submarines too if you can believe the sign above it).  Judging from the number of boats that are tied up along here, the owner’s no doubt doing a brisk business, and let’s be honest, it’s not a bad way of earning a living is it? Tiddles seems quite content to parade up and down the catwalk along here too.

Walking under the bridge brings us to Mears Walk where you can find a bench that might tempt you to take a break from exercising your legs for a while, or if you prefer, hire a rowing boat and exercise your arms instead.

When we reach the Richmond Canoe Club it’s time to leave the Riverside behind and head uphill towards Richmond Park – the most well-known of the town’s open spaces. Cross over Petersham Road and walk through the gates into Terrace Gardens which are worth a visit in their own right. By walking uphill past the glasshouse, you’ll see the Hollyhock vegetarian café on the right hand side, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy this little gem, believe you me.

Regardless of whether you take a coffee break at the café or not, continue uphill to a small pond where a sculpture of Aphrodite takes centre stage; but even though I took a photo of her, I threw Aphrodite in the bin because she’s not called ‘Bulbous Betty’ for nothing. On reflection I think I should have kept her because she’s become well-known for all the wrong reasons.

One picture I didn’t throw away though was the one I took from Richmond Hill which you can reach through a gate behind Bulbous Betty and then walking a bit further uphill to the viewpoint. The view over Terrace Gardens and Petersham Meadows is the only view in England protected by an Act of Parliament: Many artists have painted it, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and most famously, JMW Turner.

It is said that William Byrd II, the colonial founder of Richmond Virginia, saw a resemblance from this view to a bend in the James River and named the city after the one here on the Thames. I’ve just had a look at Google Maps, and if the view of the American city was similar back then, it doesn’t appear to be so now. If any Virginians can tell me more please do so as I’ve never been there.

From the viewpoint, continue to walk away from the town, where opposite the former Royal Star and Garter home for injured servicemen is the Richmond Gate entrance to Richmond Park.

How many football pitches or Olympic-size swimming pools the park covers I haven’t a clue, but to give you some idea, it’s almost three times the size of New York’s Central Park – in other words its big – and there’s an 8 mile long 9 ft high brick wall that goes all the way around it.

Created by King Charles I in the 17^th century as a deer park, it is now the largest of London’s Royal public parks and Grade I listed to protect its historic and environmental status. Within its grounds is White Lodge, a Grade I listed building (now a part of the Royal Ballet School), but there are ten others which are Grade II listed as well, eleven if you include the boundary wall. Needless to say, you won’t want to try and cover the whole park in one go, but there is plenty to see not far from Richmond Gate.

One thing that may surprise some people is that affluent Richmond-upon-Thames has a rich history in pop music. I won’t go into all that now, but you would have already passed Downe House (opposite the viewpoint on Richmond Hill) where Mick Jagger lived with Jerry Hall, and that was because Mick and the Rolling Stones had a close musical connection with Richmond.

Leaving all that aside for now, after entering the park, turn right along the Queen’s Road footpath and take a break on a bench that caters for Blockheads – or more precisely, fans of Ian Dury and his band. This memorial bench is dedicated to the New Wave artist who rose to fame during the 1970s with songs like Hit me with your Rhythm Stick, What a Waste and Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3.

On a personal level, his style of music wasn’t really quite to my taste, but that says as much about me as anything else. After contracting polio at an early age, he had an uphill struggle through life as it left him paralyzed down one side of his body, but he had a tenacity to fight his disability through words and music – Spasticus Autisticus being a case in point. I did enjoy some of his music and looking back I think he had more talent than I gave him credit for at the time.

His daughter recounts how he used to visit the park regularly, and it seems appropriate somehow that his memorial bench is close to Poets Corner where he often visited, and if you have a smart phone you can use the QR code reader to listen to some of his music. He died in Hampstead in 2007 aged 57.

If you carry on along the footpath and through the John Beer Laburnam walk, a signpost will guide you to the nearby King Henry’s Mound. This was most likely to have been a Neolithic burial chamber to begin with, but it’s main interest lies in the location. The name comes from the legend that King Henry VIII stood here to watch for a sign from St Paul’s Cathedral (10 miles away) that Anne Boleyn had been executed at the tower, and that he was now free to marry Jane Seymour. There’s no evidence to support this claim, but St Paul’s can definitely be seen from this spot, as it has done ever since it was given protected view status when the new cathedral was completed in 1710.

King Henry’s Mound is actually located in the grounds of Pembroke Lodge, one of those Grade II listed buildings I was talking about earlier.

The lodge was first mentioned in 1754 when it was just a tiny one-room cottage occupied by a molecatcher who was employed to destroy any molehills that might have led to any deer hunters coming to grief. From these simple beginnings, it was later enlarged to become part of the hierarchy’s portfolio when it was granted to the Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery by her friend King George III.

In 1847 Queen Victoria granted the lodge to the then Prime Minister, Lord (later Earl) John Russell, where he and his wife were left to bring up their two grandsons Frank and Bertrand, after their parents died when they were young. Bertrand was the thought-provoking philosopher who came out with quotes like “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts”. Another one he is attributed with (although there isn’t any record of it) is “War does not determine who is right. Only who is left”

Another person worthy of a mention is the actor David Niven who was a member of the Liaison or Phantom Regiment, that was based here during WWII. He was later to have said that “these were wonderful days which I would not have missed for anything”. I’m not surprised: It had to be better working here than being dropped on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Today, the lodge is part of the Crown Estate and leased out to a private company who use it as a wedding venue, but the public are invited to use their Butler’s Pantry café for breakfast and lunch.

We couldn’t use the Butler’s Pantry the day we were here as there was a wedding taking place, but we were still able to wander around the gardens free of charge, and were well worth checking out.

Being such a wide-open space, I’m guessing that most people don’t come here to visit places like Pembroke Lodge. but to wander around the park where they can enjoy the natural environment away from the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

I’m not sure whether the park’s claim to be the most extensive area of dry acid grassland in Greater London would interest the average Joe too much, and not even the fact that its large number of ancient decaying trees attracts a variety of deadwood beetles either, but the park’s large number of deer definitely does.

The deer are free to roam throughout most of the park and although people are told not to feed them, they often do. What happens of course is that the deer see humans as a source of food and they’re not adverse to coming up to you rather than the other way round – especially if you’re enjoying a picnic.

There are in the order of 630 or so Red and Fallow Deer in the park, and to keep the numbers sustainable, around 200 of them are culled each year and the meat sold to licensed game dealers. Even so, I’m sure most people are aware of what they should and shouldn’t do, but it’s easier said than done. We’re told that we should keep a minimum distance of 50 metres from the animals and not to touch, feed or  photograph them at close quarters, but try telling that to the deer who keep following you.

One thing that should be easier to control though is your dog. The clip below is more comical than anything else by the way and no deer came to any harm as far as I’m aware.

After exploring Richmond Park, you may well want to call it a day and head back into town before catching your train back into London or wherever, and the easiest way to get there is to walk (or get a bus) back down Richmond Hill to George Street where there are any number of places you can take the weight off your feet and relax with a coffee or something stronger.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Richmond and the wider borough is one of the nicest areas of London to live, but before you start looking in estate agents windows remember that property isn’t cheap here, and there’s another fly in the ointment too: The town is only about 8 miles from Heathrow Airport as the crow flies – or in this case as the planes fly.

Depending on various factors, what this means in practical terms (and I’ve done the maths for you) is that an average day will see almost 500 incoming flights fly over Richmond Green, and at the busiest times of the day it seems like they’re flying overhead non-stop. People who live here say that you get used to it, but I don’t know about you but I’d be pretty miffed if I spent a fortune on buying a property here to find out that I didn’t. At least Henry VII didn’t have that to worry about when he came here to live.

POSTED – AUGUST 2025