At Tottenham, north of London, Bruce Castle — a misleading name given much later — is in reality a sixteenth-century Tudor manor, one of the oldest brick houses in England. It was built by an intimate of Henry VIII and served as the setting of a royal meeting between England and Scotland.
Sir William Compton's tower
Formerly 'Lordship House', the residence was raised by Sir William Compton, an intimate courtier of Henry VIII and Groom of the Stool — one of the offices closest to the king's person. Compton built here in 1514 a mysterious castellated Tudor brick tower, which ranks among the oldest constructions of that material in England. This tower, whose exact function is still debated, bears witness to the rise of a man of the royal privy: the sovereign's favour translated into stone and brick, close to London.
The meeting of the Tudors (1516)
The oldest known mention of the house, in 1516, records a dynastic episode: Henry VIII was reunited here with his sister Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots — widow of James IV and mother of the future James V — 'at Maister Compton's House beside Tottenham'. This meeting between the King of England and the dowager Queen of Scots, in the house of a favourite, illustrates the tense and intimate ties between the two crowns which, a century later, would be united on one head. To see: the Tudor brick tower of 1514 (the oldest visible part), the remodelled Tudor range and the park. (The clock tower and the name 'Bruce Castle' are of the seventeenth century.)
Did you know?
The name 'Bruce Castle' has nothing medieval or Scottish about it despite appearances: it was given to the house only in the 1680s, in reference to a former holding of Robert Bruce's family on these lands. The true Tudor history of the place — Compton's brick tower, Henry VIII's visit — is well before that romantic name.
Notes
Bruce Castle lies on Lordship Lane, Tottenham (Haringey), north London; today it houses a free local museum, in a public park. Hours to check.
Quiz
- Who built the brick tower of Bruce Castle in 1514?
- Sir William Compton, favourite of Henry VIII
- Thomas Cromwell
- Cardinal Wolsey
- Whom did Henry VIII meet here in 1516?
- His sister Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots
- Anne Boleyn
- Francis I
- From when does the name 'Bruce Castle' date?
- From the 1680s
- From the time of Robert Bruce
- From 1514