| Summary : The mansion known as Baynards Castle was built circa 1276 to the east of the castle by the same name. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1428. It was the main London residence of the House of York, and it was here that the Crown was offered to Edward IV, and later, to Richard III. In 1500, Henry VII ordered it to be rebuilt as a great house rather than a palace. The house was bestowed on his consorts by Henry VIII, and Catherine Parr granted it to the Earl of Pembroke. The greater part of the house was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. Excavations since 1973 have recovered much of the plan and showed it to have been broadly quadangular, the river front being flanked by two machicolated towers with 5 projecting bays. There was a westward extension, apparently built in 1551. |