Thomas Cromwell’s Home at the London Austin Friars

Abstract

This article uses plans and other documentary evidence to examine two London houses of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s (in)famous first minster. In the 1520s Cromwell lived in a townhouse in Austin Friars that had recently been built in a revenue-raising project by the prior of the friary. In the 1530s Cromwell developed a much grander urban mansion next to the friary, spending over £500 on land and at least £1,000 on construction costs. The two houses and their gardens are analysed with supporting evidence presented in tables, reconstructed plans and an elevation. Details from an important early-17th-century survey are also shown. The mansion had many of the features of a Tudor status-house, including courtyards, oriel windows, long galleries and grand staircases; it may also have had some Italianate decorative features.