Cuddington

Name: Cuddington
Reason for desertion: Sold to King Henry VIII
Period of desertion: 1538
Extant: None

Cuddington was a village in Surrey which was demolished to make way for Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace near Cheam. Within the current Nonsuch Park, a little to the south of where the palace once stood, there remains a small rise of land to mark the northern side of the old Cuddington Parish church.

Nonsuch Park – the site of Cuddington

At the time of the Norman Conquest two thirds of the Manor was held by Harold’s brother Earl Leofwine. William was to give the land to his half brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent and the manor was held for him by Ilbert de Laci whose son forfeited his estates when found guilty of treason by Henry I. The manor was passed to Hugh Laval whose son, Guy, forfeited the estate in 1203 when he supported the French against John. Thus the estate passed into the hands of William de St Michel whose descendants were to adopt the name of Cuddington.

The next two centuries passed peaceably. The most famous resident during this time was the founder of Merton College, Oxford, Walter de Merton, who became the Rector of Cuddington in 1232. By the time of Henry VIII’s interest in the site the basic manor house described in the fourteenth century had been replaced by a pleasant, newly built, fifteenth century manor house. The estate included four large farmhouses and, although there appear to have been few tenants, there was a large church which predated 1100 and had been expanded on four separate occasions.

Nonsuch Palace

The birth of Henry VIII’s sole surviving son led directly to the destruction of the manor of Cuddington. To celebrate both the securing of the succession and the advent of the thirtieth year of his reign, Henry decided to build a palace which would have no equal and call it “None Such”.

Elizabeth and Richard Cuddington were given the manor of Ixworth, Suffolk and Henry set about removing the village of Cuddington. The only obstacle was Merton Priory which protected the church. One week before the building began the priory was suppressed and its stone used in the building of Nonsuch Palace.

The building of the palace began on 22nd April 1538. By September the foundations were finished and around five hundred workmen from all over Europe were employed on the site. By all accounts, these men succeeded in building for Henry, the magnificent palace he had desired. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising that he appears to have visited only three times, twice in 1545 and once in the year of his death. His son Edward had little or no interest in the palace and Mary sold the palace to the Earl of Arundel.

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