Rooms from Lavish Greenwich Palace Uncovered (Photos)

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Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

Uncovering the past

Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

One of the rooms had a Flemish tile floor, and the other had a low ceiling and recesses in the walls that may have been used to store baskets that contained bees — a source of honey and wax — during the winter.

The dig

Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

During his lifetime, Henry VIII spent 4,000 nights at Greenwich Palace, Will Palin, conservation director for the Old Royal Naval College, told Live Science.

Glimpse of the tiles

Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

Yellow Flemish tile can be seen here.

Unknown purpose

Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

It's possible that the rooms were used by Henry VIII's courtiers or were connected to the on-site armory or nearby friary church.

Boisterous fun

Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

The palace had a tiltyard (a courtyard for jousting), a banquet hall, horse stables, dog kennels and places for cockfights.

The Painted Hall

Greenwich Palace Rooms

(Image credit: Old Royal Naval College)

The two Greenwich Palace rooms are on the site of the Painted Hall, which contains baroque murals by the English painter Sir James Thornhill that are currently undergoing restoration.

Sarah B. Puschmann
Sarah B. Puschmann
Staff Writer
Sarah Puschmann is a staff writer for Live Science. She particularly enjoys writing about ecology and evolution and has degrees in creative writing and physics. Before joining Live Science, she taught English in Korea, Costa Rica, Argentina, Sweden, and Germany. Follow her on Twitter.